Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Poor Trial Results for Another Experimental Alzheimer's Drug
An experimental Alzheimer's drug that previously showed promise yielded disappointing results in three clinical trials.
The drug idalopirdine did not help people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease in the trials, which included 2,525 patients in 34 countries, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The findings were reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Previous clinical trials suggested the drug might be beneficial, but those trials focused mainly on the drugs' safety, the Times reported.
This is the latest failure in efforts to develop new drugs for Alzheimer's, which affects 5.5 million Americans. Someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with Alzheimer's every 66 seconds, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
There have been about 400 unsuccessful clinical trials of experimental treatments for Alzheimer's, the Times reported.
