Another Neuropathic Pain Competitor Bites the Dust
NTII's memantine for neuropathic pain gets more valuable every time one of its late stage potential rivals fails, as below.
John de C
05:48 PM ET 08/13/99 - Pfizer Drops New Diabetes Treatment
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.
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. |
