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.