Alzheimer's disease is a devastating illness, and unfortunately a cure has been elusive. A drug being developed by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), and Elan (NYSE: ELN) called bapineuzumab was scraped over the summer after failing to satisfy its phase 3 clinical trial endpoints. Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) drug, solanezumab, also failed to meet the goals set for its late-stage study. While combining the results from the two solanezumab phase 3 trials did show some positive results and briefly generated investor excitement, there is some skepticism that the drug will gain Food and Drug Administration approval.
Today, it looks like there's a new player in the fight to treat Alzheimer's; powerhouse pharma company Merck (NYSE: MRK) announced that it's bringing its experimental drug MK-8931 to phase 2/3 trials. In the following video, health care analysts Max Macaluso and Brenton Flynn break down the details for investors.
