Promising Alzheimer’s Drug Research Hits Snag In Clinical Trials

Stat: 'Puzzling' Results In Alzheimer's Study Cloud Future Of Tau-Targeting Therapy
New clinical trial results may temper early hope for an experimental Genentech treatment that targets “tangles” of a protein called tau that’s thought to damage and kill neurons. In a mid-stage study involving patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, the anti-tau antibody treatment, called semorinemab, did slow the rate of cognitive decline by nearly 44% compared to placebo — achieving one of the primary goals of the study. But it did not improve the function of patients in the study compared to placebo — failing to achieve the other primary goal of the study. Likewise, the drug did not show any improvement on two other widely tracked measures of cognition and dementia that served as secondary goals of the study. (Feuerstein, 11/10)

Modern Healthcare: Google Taps AI For Breast Cancer Screening
Google is taking the next step towards putting its breast cancer screening technology into clinical practice, the company announced Tuesday. It's partnering with the U.K.'s National Health Service to study whether artificial intelligence can make breast cancer screening more accurate, safer, less expensive and improve patient experience compared to mammograms analyzed by doctors. Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, St. George's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust will participate in the study. (Brady, 11/9)

CIDRAP: Project Focuses On Vaccines, Monoclonal Antibodies To Fight AMR
A coalition of academic researchers and industry partners yesterday announced a new public-private partnership to use artificial intelligence and big data to unlock the potential of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies to fight AMR. The primary goal of PrIMAVeRa (Predicting the Impact of Monoclonal Antibodies & Vaccines on Antimicrobial Resistance) is to develop an open-sourced, web-based platform that combines mathematical models with health and economic data to predict how much vaccines and monoclonal antibodies could reduce AMR and help policymakers determine which specific vaccines and monoclonal antibodies should be prioritized. The initiative involves 19 partners in the European Union, United Kingdom, and Russia. (11/10)

In court cases —

Bloomberg: J&J Wins Halt To 38,000 Baby Powder Lawsuits Amid Bankruptcy
Johnson & Johnson won court approval to halt tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder caused ovarian cancer and other health problems in women, clearing a hurdle in front of its plan to pay $2 billion or more to end claims related to baby powder and other talc-based products. The plan is part of a legal strategy known as the Texas Two Step in which J&J created a unit in Texas to hold all of the lawsuits, then transferred that unit to North Carolina and placed it in bankruptcy. The proceedings halted suits against the unit in court protection, but still left Johnson & Johnson exposed to some 38,000 lawsuits, some of which are nearing jury verdicts. (Church, 11/10)

Reuters: Jury Orders Bayer To Pay $62 Mln Over Contaminated U.S. School Building
A U.S. jury on Wednesday ordered Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) to pay $62 million to students and others who say they were exposed to toxic chemicals made by the company's predecessor, Monsanto Co, in a school building in Washington state. The verdict was the second against Bayer over polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington. A trial involving three teachers ended in a $185 million verdict in July, including $135 million in punitive damages, which Bayer is appealing. (Pierson, 11/10)

On genome sequencing —

Stat: Sequencing Whole Genomes Helps Diagnose More Rare Diseases
When the U.K.’s National Health Service started to use whole genome sequencing, doctors were able to determine diagnoses for more people with rare diseases — including some for whom other genetic tests had failed to turn up an answer, researchers reported Wednesday. The new paper, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, described the results of a pilot study from what’s known as the 100,000 Genomes Project. Whole genome sequencing led to diagnoses for 25% of the thousands of participants in the study thought to have a rare genetic condition — 14% of whom would not have been diagnosed by different methods, the scientists said. (Joseph, 11/10)