Eisai on Friday said it has begun phase 3 clinical trials of Alzheimer’s treatment BAN2401, a day after the Japanese drugmaker and U.S. partner Biogen scrapped trials for another Alzheimer’s drug, aducanumab.
The aducanumab announcement knocked $18 billion of Biogen’s stock value. On Friday, Eisai was untraded, flooded with sell orders at 7,565 yen, almost 17 percent lower than its previous close.
The demise of aducanumab came after independent experts determined the trials had little hope of succeeding, marking the latest setback in the quest to treat a mind-wasting disease that affects 5.7 million people in the United States alone.
