Drug Industry Isn't Giving Up on Alzheimer's

Despite recent setbacks in efforts to find treatments for Alzheimer's disease, the drug industry has not given up, reports the Wall Street Journal . Axovant Sciences on Monday announced that it has shuttered development for a once-promising Alzheimer's drug. The announcement came days after Pfizer said it was giving up on the space entirely. Roche Holding, Biogen, Eli Lilly, and others, however, are still developing therapies. Startups with neuroscience pipelines, like Denali Therapeutics and Verge Genomics, are attracting funding, and so are early-stage research projects. "It's too early to give up," said Paul Aisen, the director of the University of Southern California's Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute in San Diego. "We're actually on the precipice of major advances. I would not discount all the disappointments over the years, but I believe we're in good shape."