Perhaps there is a message here Two weeks and $20 billion after a major failure in Alzheimer’s disease, Biogen (BIIB) isn’t quite ready to bail on a controversial approach to treating the disorder.
Dr. Michael Ehlers, Biogen’s head of research, said Monday that the company is “looking very closely” at the data on aducanumab, an Alzheimer’s drug meant to slow the disease by targeting sticky brain plaques called beta-amyloid. Last month, Biogen terminated two large studies of aducanumab after determining that the drug had no hope of succeeding. Now Biogen must decide what that failure means for the rest of its work in Alzheimer’s, a ruling Ehlers said will arrive “in the coming weeks.”