Failed J&J/Pfizer Alzheimer's drug was hitting target – studies

* Significantly cut levels of Alzheimer's related proteins

* Findings suggest drug may work in earlier-stage disease

* Dose, side effects may be an issue

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Data from two large studies of Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson (TLO: JNJ-U.TI - news) 's Alzheimer's drug, bapineuzumab, show the treatment reduced underlying markers of the disease in some patients, suggesting the failed medication might work at an earlier stage.

The findings, presented at a European neurology meeting in Stockholm, followed the companies' announcement last month that they were scrapping large-scale clinical trials of the drug after it failed to improve memory or thinking skills in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's.

Many researchers had long expected bapineuzumab to fail this test because they believe Alzheimer's starts years before memory problems become apparent.

But they have been eagerly awaiting the so-called biomarker results - measurements of fluids and tissues in the body - to see if the drug hit its biological targets, suggesting it could work in at an earlier stage of the disease.

These biomarker results show that compared with the subjects who were give a placebo, bapineuzumab significantly reduced the amount of the protein beta amyloid on the brain scans of patients with a gene mutation that increases their risk of Alzheimer's.

The drug also significantly reduced the amount of a toxic form of the protein tau in spinal fluid, a sign of brain cell death, compared with patients who were given a placebo.

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Failed J&J/Pfizer Alzheimer's drug was hitting target - studies