Axovant Altzheimers Drug Fails
Contributor Since 2008
To all my followers I welcome you to my BlogSpot at SA....
I am now 14 years retired from the US pharma industry having spent over 33 years in Big Pharma.I was part of the launch/sale of over 50 new drugs over my Career with 6 different Antibiotics including Azlocillin, Mezlocillin, Amikacin,Cipro and finally Avelox. I sold Antibiotics, Anti-Fungals, Anti High Blood Pressure/ Cholesterol, Anti-Neoplastics/Cancer, Immune Modulators, Dementia/AZ and Diabetes Meds/Meters.etc. I like to say I sold drugs that treated people from WOMB to TOMB and I mean that quite literally!
Today I enjoy investing in Bio-Pharmas mostly, because it is what I know best! I come from the Peter Lynch School of Investing so only Invest in what you Know best!
I invest mostly 70% of portfolio in large companies such as AZN, BMY, PFE, MRK, GSK, and JNJ (love the divis and security) but I like the up and coming riskier Bios too. Cancer, Immunotherapy and Inflammation intrigues me most today--I call these disease states the FRUIT at the Top, pretty much all the Low hanging Fruit is now discovered and available Generically/relatively cheap too....so I have made those 3 Disease States a major Focus since 2008.
RP (retiredpharma)
PS//that pic is taken on the Island of Kona,HI when I was 265lbs...3 years later Im at 215! We swam w/ the Dolphin and Rays...and we trekked out to the Volcano by water..
Summary
- GSK Intepiridine 5HT6 targeted med fails P-3 trial
- AXON shareholders obviously disappointed
- Bad Targets make Bad Drugs
I wish that GSK throw away AZ drug Intepiridene had been a winner. For patients suffering and shareholders investing alike,but alas it was not to be! I warned AXON shareholders that FAILURE was likely as nearly 99% of all AZ drugs have ended in Disaster and only 1% have succeeded and that success has been measured incrementally WEAK at best with drugs like PFE Aricept.
As many of you know I came out of BIG PHARMA, worked at Bayer for nearly 25 years and we had a AZ drug almost come to market called Promem(Metrifonate).It was going to be Miraculous, in fact all our trials showed it worked quite well. Patients with advanced AZ were able to dress and toilet and return to almost normal living and daily function! They scored very HIGH on the MMSE. (The mini mental state examination (MMSE) is a commonly used set of questions for screening cognitive function. This examination is not suitable for making a diagnosis but can be used to indicate the presence of cognitive impairment, such as in a person with suspected dementia or following a head injury.)News stations all over America were conducting Interviews of Patients and family members who were part of Promem Clinical Trials and the excitement was palpable. We were within weeks of Launching the drug. I could barely SLEEP at night I was so excited! I was a young energetic pharma rep in 1998 about 46 years old and quite seasoned at the time. I was ready to share ALL I KNEW ABOUT AZ with the Medical Community and our GAME CHANGER. That is until we learned at the 12Hr that Bayer was pulling the drug from the FDA review.(see below)
Bayer Puts Alzheimer's Drug Trials On Hold in Accord With the FDA
When things appear to be ROCK SOLID expect disappointment in BT! But The drug worked, what could have gone wrong?
Severe Respiratory Depression especially bad in Seniors our Target Market, thats what went wrong!
You see Promem was actually a modified Locust Killing Pesticide from Bayer Crop Science. An AChEI that actually worked at the Nerve Scheath of Neurons and Synapses so one can think of them as the Plastic wire coatings that protect electrical wires from "shorting" out. Promem stopped that Nerve Scheath destruction but it also caused you to stop Breathing just as it did to Locusts where it was originally intended to be used. Yep at a lower dose than what was used in Crop Science we could get it to work in Human Beings in what we thought was quite safe all the way through P-1,P-2 and finally P-3.(An acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (often abbreviated AChEI) or anti-cholinesterase is a chemical or a drug that inhibits the acetylcholinesterase enzyme from breaking down acetylcholine, thereby increasing both the level and duration of action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.)
We were devastated at Bayer in 1998 and I tried to explain to AXON investors in the past year or two that this could happen again. The proverbial Deja Vaux. They would have NONE of my warnings. They blogged nasty things about me/names etc and so I left their Blogsite but I said FAILURE was likely.
I never bought AXON stock and today I'm glad I did not!
Its hard to pick winners but in this case, we were warned, Lundbeck gave up and PFE deep sixed their Drug in 2016...a BAD TARGET usually makes a BAD DRUG! Than there was Bayer's misfortune back in 1998. Im afraid AZ treatments will continue to be RARE.
Until we talk again...Good luck in your BT pics!
RP
Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.