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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly)

PFE 24.32

-1.5%

Nov 4 3:59 PM EST

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To: Henry Niman who wrote (1589)	8/14/1999 3:05:00 AM
From: Cheryl Galt	Read Replies (2) of 1722

> CNBC is reporting on another PFE drug failure. < But PFE's stock price is not suffering. The tail-end of the 8/13 AP story: "Most securities analysts have become used to failures in diabetic neuropathy research so Pfizer's announcement was not a major blow for the company. Shares of Pfizer rose 50 cents to $34.50 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. -------------------------- NEW YORK (AP) Pfizer Inc. has stopped development of an experimental drug to treat nerve damage from diabetes, joining other big drug companies that have failed to find a cure for the often-debilitating condition. About half of the 16 million diabetics in the United States eventually will suffer from diabetic neuropathy, a complication characterized by extreme pain or loss of feeling in the hands and feet. Pfizer was in late-stage human testing of its drug Alond when the company realized it found no improvement in patients taking the pill. Pfizer was testing Alond in 421 patients at 23 health centers across the United States. Pfizer said part of the problem with Alond was in finding a way to detect whether nerves damaged by diabetes were growing back. Pfizer was taking biopsies of patients' nerves to measure any difference. Diabetes advocates said Pfizer's announcement, which was made late Thursday, was a setback. ``Its always disappointing when you hope something is going to be a cure' Marian Parrot, a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, said Friday. Pfizer continues to study Alond to treat kidney and heart damage. Since the 1980s, several big pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and American Home Products, have tried to develop a drug to treat diabetic neuropathy. The goal has proven elusive. As a result, doctors can only treat the symptoms of the condition with pain medication and antidepressants. And patients must learn to cope with the complication that gets progressively worse. The best way to reduce symptoms is though tight control of blood sugar levels. Genentech, a top biotech company, in April stopped development of its diabetic neuropathy drug after a study showed the experimental pill Neuleze was failing. Until then, Genentech was considered furthest along in the race to find an effective treatment. The only major drugmaker that has publicly disclosed it is still testing a drug for diabetic neuropathy is Warner-Lambert. The company's Zenarestat is in advanced human testing, though results of those studies are not expected for at least a year. Drug companies are not obligated to disclose which drugs they are researching.

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