Alzheimer's setback as promising drug shows no benefit in clinical trials

Disappointment as idalopirdine fails at trial to improve cognition and limit decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease

The quest to develop drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease has experienced a new setback, with a promising medication failing to show benefits in the latest series of clinical trials.

Earlier trials had suggested that the drug idalopirdine, from the Danish international pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, might improve cognition in those with Alzheimer's disease when taken alongside existing drugs - known as cholinesterase inhibitors - acting to improve symptoms rather than stopping the disease from developing. But the latest trials have dashed such hopes.