Pfizer (PFE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Alzheimer's and Bapineuzumab

At the Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease conference in Barcelona, bapineuzumab, an Alzheimer’s vaccine being co-developed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), appears to bind to soluble amyloid and “neutralize” amyloid’s downstream toxic effects, preventing it from binding to neurons.

That's important because "in mouse studies there does seem to be a benefit of injecting the therapeutic vaccine, according to Gene Kinney, head of research at J&J’s Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy R&D group. Mice that are prone to forming amyloid plaques and have trouble learning fear (a proxy for cognitive function) were injected with bapineuzumab prior to plaque formation. Those injected were better able to be conditioned to fear–the fear-learning deficit was reversed to a level that was comparable to healthy mice," said Kinney, cited by the Wall Street Journal.

It isn't clear yet whether bapineuzumab will be effective when given to patients who are in the early stages of the disease.

Bapineuzumab faces major hurdles though, as in late-stage human testing, it has shown limited efficacy in earlier stage trials and encountered a setback in terms of safety in 2009.

Pfizer closed Thursday at $19.36, down $0.30, or 1.53 percent. Johnson & Johnson closed at $59.61, down $0.79, or 1.31 percent.




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