MYRIAD PRESENTS DATA ON FLURIZAN IN ALZHEIMER'S PATIENTS

Myriad Genetics presented additional results from its Phase II follow-on study of Flurizan in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease at the annual meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. The data indicate that Flurizan may be capable not only of slowing the decline of Alzheimer's disease but of halting the disease, the company said. In this study, many patients with Alzheimer's disease got no worse over two full years, and in some cases patients treated with Flurizan appear to have improved.

At 24 months, study participants in the Phase II trial with mild Alzheimer's disease taking 800 mg of Flurizan twice daily experienced a 67 percent improvement in their level of cognitive decline compared with those taking placebo, as measured by the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) score. Additionally, based on the MMSE score, three times the percentage of patients on Flurizan demonstrated improvement in cognition or zero decline compared with patients on placebo: 42 percent of patients taking 800 mg of Flurizan twice daily experienced improvement or zero decline compared with 14 percent of patients taking placebo.

Overall, 42 percent of patients on Flurizan showed improvement or no decline in one or more of the three primary endpoints of cognition, global function and activities of daily living compared with 10 percent of patients on placebo.

Myriad is currently conducting two Phase III trials of Flurizan in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease. In each study, participants are taking 800 mg of Flurizan or placebo twice daily, and the last participant enrolled will have taken the study drug for 18 months. Flurizan is the first in a new class of drug candidates known as selective amyloid beta-42 lowering agents. Amyloid beta-42 is the primary constituent of senile plaque that accumulates in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to the company.