Drugmakers hurrying experimental Alzheimer’s drugs into late-stage testing may be undermining their ultimate chance at success.

The halting progress in the race to develop new Alzheimer?s drugs was on display at the International Conference on Alzheimer?s Disease in Chicago this week. Great expectations and a desire for quick results were tempered by the setbacks of some high-profile medicines in the works.

?I think we have seen companies rushing things a bit,? says Rudi Tanzi, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-founder of Prana Biotechnology, which is developing an Alzheimer?s drug, and a consultant to Wyeth and Elan. ?It?s because Alzheimer?s is such a huge medical need. Companies are rushing to get the first drugs out the door.?

Drugmakers hurrying experimental Alzheimer’s drugs into late-stage testing may be undermining their ultimate chance at success.

The halting progress in the race to develop new Alzheimer?s drugs was on display at the International Conference on Alzheimer?s Disease in Chicago this week. Great expectations and a desire for quick results were tempered by the setbacks of some high-profile medicines in the works.

?I think we have seen companies rushing things a bit,? says Rudi Tanzi, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-founder of Prana Biotechnology, which is developing an Alzheimer?s drug, and a consultant to Wyeth and Elan. ?It?s because Alzheimer?s is such a huge medical need. Companies are rushing to get the first drugs out the door.?

A state court in Los Angeles failed to stop deep cuts in reimbursement rates to health care providers in the state Medi-Cal/Denti-Cal program which took effect on July 1.

If you’re a mouse who loves to feel fit but hates to exercise, the Health Blog has good news for you: There’s a drug that can give you the endurance of a champion, even if you never leave the nest.

In a study published online today by Cell, mice who were given a drug called Aicar for four weeks improved their running endurance by 44% — even though the mice didn’t exercise at all during the period.

“It’s a little bit like a free lunch without the calories,” Ronald M. Evans, one of the senior authors on the paper, told the New York Times.

Mice who both exercised and received a different, related drug, GW1516, improved their endurance by about 70% compared with mice that exercised and received a placebo. (In the absence of exercise, GW1516 didn’t show any benefit.) The study’s funders included the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the NIH.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, will exhibit a new spectrophotometer that offers unique benefits for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing laboratories dealing with donor tissue matching. The Thermo Scientific NanoDrop™ 1000 represents the growing trend of successful genome research tools finding their way to the clinical research setting.

Alzheimer's Society comment: Living with a partner in midlife can reduce your risk of dementia, according to new research presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease. 'Some evidence suggests remaining socially active may reduce your risk of dementia and living with someone is certainly a good way of increasing social interaction.

Myriad Genetics planned a glorious coming-out party at the Alzheimer’s Association’s scientific conference this year. The company, best known for genetic tests, has been angling to get into the drug business and was poised to show off the results of one of the biggest, longest trials to date of a drug that aimed to alter the course of Alzheimer’s.

To set the stage, Myriad shelled out $200,000 for a platinum sponsorship at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, making the company a bigger player than Pfizer, Wyeth and Lilly. And Myriad nabbed a big booth near the entrance to the exhibit floor and right between those for Forest Lab’s Namenda and Aricept from Pfizer and Eisai.

There was only one problem. Data released a month before the meeting revealed that Myriad’s drug Flurizan failed to help Azheimer’s patients’ thinking or their ability to complete tasks of daily life.

Myriad Genetics planned a glorious coming-out party at the Alzheimer’s Association’s scientific conference this year. The company, best known for genetic tests, has been angling to get into the drug business and was poised to show off the results of one of the biggest, longest trials to date of a drug that aimed to alter the course of Alzheimer’s.

To set the stage, Myriad shelled out $200,000 for a platinum sponsorship at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, making the company a bigger player than Pfizer, Wyeth and Lilly. And Myriad nabbed a big booth near the entrance to the exhibit floor and right between those for Forest Lab’s Namenda and Aricept from Pfizer and Eisai.

There was only one problem. Data released a month before the meeting revealed that Myriad’s drug Flurizan failed to help Azheimer’s patients’ thinking or their ability to complete tasks of daily life.

Researcher Robert Green, who presented details of the failed Flurizan trial Tuesday called his talk ?bittersweet? and showed slide after slide demonstrating virtually no difference between the treatment group and the placebo group. But one doctor in the audience who spoke to the Health Blog after the presentation praised the company for its large, well-done study that had, unfortunately, convincingly showed that the drug didn?t work.

Despite the failure, the Myriad show went on. Six flat-screen TVs in the company’s booth flash ?Myriad.? A banner describing SALA treatment, shorthand for Flurizan’s approach to treating Alzheimer?s, hangs in the booth. The booth was lightly staffed and didn?t attract many visitors while the Health Blog was roaming the floor. The main attraction appears to be posters publicizing an exhibit of self-portraits by artist William Utermohlen, an artist who stuggled with Alzheimer’s. Myriad is sponsoring the retrospective at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Adrian Hobden, president of Myriad’s drug unit, told the Health Blog it has been ?kind of painful? to have spent eight years working with the compound and with the Alzheimer?s community and no longer have a drug in development for the disease. “It?s kind of like parting with a friend,” he said. “It seems like a wake, actually.?

“Erased Self Portrait” by William Utermohlen

WHAT Several top officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) attending the XVIIth International AIDS Conference in Mexico City will participate in a series of media briefings. WHO is the directing and coordinating authority on international health and takes the lead within the UN system on the global health-sector response to the AIDS epidemic.

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would require states to have access to at least one full-service veterans' medical center or receive comparable care from non-military health care providers, the AP/Boston Globe reports.