Lanabecestat's termination also a blow for BACE inhibitors class

When US pharma major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) earlier this month announced that they were discontinuing the global Phase III studies of lanabecestat, an oral beta secretase cleaving enzyme (BACE) inhibitor that was being trialled in Alzheimer’s disease, it was not only a disappointment for the companies, but also for the whole class of drugs.

Following the termination of lanabecestat, few assets remain in beta-secretase (BACE) inhibitor class for Alzheimer’s treatment, says data and analytics company GlobalData.

After the disappointing failures of highly anticipated anti-amyloid pipeline drugs, such as Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)/Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) bapineuzumab and Eli Lilly’s solanezumab, the focus of research in Alzheimer’s has increasingly turned to beta-secretase (BACE) inhibitors with mixed results.