Eisai and Pfizer drug trial deaths

Eleven patients have died in a clinical drug trial for an Alzheimer’s disease drug called Aricept, according to reports.

The drug is marketed by Eisai and Pfizer, with the latest tests concerning the further use of the drug to treat patients with vascular dementia. Aricept is currently used to treat patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.

According to Eisai, no deaths were reported in the placebo group, which accounted for 326 of the trial patients. There were 648 people in the trial that were given Aricept.

“What we’re seeing is an unexpectedly low mortality rate in the placebo group,’ Judee Shuler, for Eisai in Teaneck, New Jersey said, according to Bloomberg.

“We have an application pending with the FDA and are engaging in discussion.”

Eisai also said that the death rate of patients treated with Aricept in the trials was lower than in the general population who have vascular dementia.

Aricept is already used in some markets, such as South Korea and India, to treat vascular dementia.

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