Enrollment continues in Voyager's Ph III AD trial

USA-based drugmaker Voyager Pharmaceutical says the enrollment in the first Phase III trial of its developmental Alzheimer's disease drug VP4896 has passed its midpoint ahead of schedule. The study, which is referred to as ALADDIN VP-AD-301 (Antigonadotropin-Leuprolide in Alzheimer's Disease Drug Investigation), is a double-blind, placebo-controlled assessment of leuprolide acetate's effect on the stabilization of cognitive function in patients with mild-to-moderate AD.

The program's inclusion criteria require that subjects have experienced prior treatment with one of the following: Aricept (donepezil HCl), manufactured by Japanese firm Eisai; Novartis' Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate); Johnson & Johnson/Shire's Razadyne (galantamine), formerly known as Reminyl; or Pfizer's Cognex (tacrine), for at least four months.

The firm added that the compound's safety and tolerability will also be examined during the trial, which will take place at around 62 research centers in the USA and Canada.