Shire's Alzheimer's Drug Shows Promise

Shire Pharmaceuticals has presented promising results of its Phase II study with galanthamine, its treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Data were presented at the Fifth International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Osaka, Japan, on July 28.

Encouraging Results Results of the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, involving 235 patients with Alzheimer's disease, indicated that galanthamine produces a significant cognitive improvement, compared to placebo. It was also noted that there is an absence of hepatic toxicity; this compares to tacrine, the first registered drug for the disease, which has the potential to cause adverse liver effects in 25%-40% of patients. Finally a good overall tolerability was seen, with minimal withdrawal rate. 16% of patients withdrew from the trial due to side effects, compared to 8% of patients being treated with placebo.

Share Price Increase The encouraging news caused Shire's shares to rise on the London Stock Exchange. The stock came to the market at L1.75 ($2.60) per share, but since its flotation in February, significant progress has been made with its products, resulting in the present share price around L2.50. UK sales grew at 30% compared to the UK market expansion of 9.5%, with total 1995 product sales of L5.8 million.