Researchers Say Medivation Alzheimer's Drug Dimebon Keeps Symptoms At Bay

Jul 31, 2008 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- PFE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- July 31, 2008 (FinancialWire) Researchers have said that Medivation Inc.'s (NASDAQ: MDVN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Dimebon, a drug for Alzheimer's disease, made kept symptoms at bay for 18 months, but people who got the drug after first taking a placebo fared less well, suggesting early treatment is best.

Some doctors think the true test of whether Dimebon represents an advance over current therapies will come from studies done in the West, where patients have ready access to other drugs that can slow progression of the disease, which includes Eisai Co Ltd's and Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE: PFE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Aricept, Forest Laboratories Inc.'s (NYSE: FRX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Namenda, Novartis AG's (NYSE: NVS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Exelon and Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Razadyne.

The results from the 183-patient study conducted in Russia found people continued to improve, with benefits seen in cognition, memory, activities of daily living and behavior. The study also found that people who were treated with a placebo for a year and then took Dimebon stabilized across five measures of thinking ability, but were unable to catch up to the group who had taken it for the full 18 months.

Medivation has provided frequent updates of patients in the study in Russia, where patients in the study took few if any drugs other than Dimebon. Shares of Medivation fell 48 cents to close at $19.29 Wednesday.

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