Summary Box: Eli Lilly halts development of potential Alzheimer's drug in late-stage testing
DRUG DEVELOPMENT HALTED: Indianapolis drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. said Tuesday it stopped developing the potential Alzheimer's disease treatment semagacestat when late-stage studies showed it did not slow the disease, and patients taking it fared worse than those on a placebo.
OTHER PIPELINE PROSPECTS: Lilly is still developing another Alzheimer's treatment, solanezumab, and has eight drugs in late-stage testing.
THE BIG PICTURE: The drugmaker needs some of these possibilities to pan out because patents protecting several key drugs will expire in the coming years, exposing them to generic competition.
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