DMC clears Merck & Co’s Alzheimer’s drug MK-8931 development

10 December 2013

The development program for MK-8931, a novel investigational oral beta-amyloid precursor protein site-cleaving enzyme (BACE) inhibitor from US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) is set to continue as planned.

Merck said that the Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) for the Phase II/III EPOCH study of MK-8931 in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease recently completed its planned interim safety analysis and recommended that the trial continue to recruit patients, with no changes to the protocol.

The DMC recommendation was made following a planned analysis of interim safety data that included a safety cohort of 200 patients treated with MK-8931 for at least 3 months. Based upon the DMC’s recommendations, Merck will continue enrollment of the EPOCH study.

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