AstraZeneca Seeking Partner To Develop Experimental Alzheimer's Drug

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is looking to enter into a partnership to develop its new experimental Alzheimer’s drug, AZD3293. Briggs Morrison, the global head of medicines development at AstraZeneca, said that the company was currently talking with other pharmaceutical firms with more experience researching and developing Alzheimer’s drugs.

"We're having talks with many of our peers who have spent a lot more time in Alzheimer's and have very good Alzheimer's development expertise," Morrison said to reporters. "There is no deal done yet but we are continuing the conversations."

AZD3293, which is classified as a BACE inhibitor, is on track to enter late-stage Phase III development shorty. Inhibitor drugs block the beta secretase enzyme which is involved in beta-amyloid production—a protein that causes the brain plaque that plagues Alzheimer’s patients. AZD3293 is one of the few neurological drugs left in the AstraZeneca pipeline, as the company primarily focuses on treatments for cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory propblems.

Morrison continued by saying that the most likely deal would be one where AstraZeneca could share costs of the Phase III trial in exchange for sharing the drug’s eventual profits. However, AstraZeneca could also consider licensing out the product, which would allow the company to collect royalties on any future sales of the drug. According to Reuters, AstraZeneca has high hopes for AZD3293 on the market, believing it could generate sales to the tune of $5 billion a year. However, high failure rate in the disease sector has put a crimp in the company’s outlook. Reportedly, the company is giving the drug a 9 percent chance of success on a risk-adjusted basis.

However, these BACE inhibitor drugs are garnering some attention as being  a promising new approach to fighting Alzheimer’s. These drugs are following in the footsteps of a several failed trials of an injectable class of medicines targeting beta-amyloid plaque.

AstraZeneca has also been in the spotlight recently as the Pfizer takeover process grows longer and AstraZeneca reportedly remains opposed to the $106 billion deal.