01 Apr 2010

Following disappointing results in its Phase 3 CONNECTION trial of Dimebon for Alzheimer disease (AD), Medivation, Inc., is cutting its workforce. According to the company website, it will reduce staff by 20 percent, end recruitment of a chief financial officer, and cut some senior management positions. According to the release, Medivation plans to focus on analyzing data from the CONNECTION study and completing enrollment for CONCERT and HORIZON trials of Dimebon in AD and Huntington disease, respectively. Another priority for the company is development of an anti-androgen drug for the treatment of prostate cancer. AD researchers have questioned whether the AD program will be able to continue enrolling at this point.

Expectations for Dimebon rose on the results of a Russian clinical Phase 2 trial (see ARF related news story). With questions lingering about how the drug works (see ARF related news story), clinicians and patients had awaited the results of the CONNECTION study. Released 3 March 2010, top-line data from the trial showed that after six months of treatment, the drug failed to affect either its primary endpoints (cognition as measured by the ADAS-cog, and global function as measured by the CIBIC+) or a range of secondary measures. The data sent Medivation stocks tumbling and left the field wondering how two trials could differ so widely (see ARF related news story). The picture may become clearer when the company presents the data in full, as it is expected to do at the ICAD conference this July in Honolulu, Hawaii.—Tom Fagan.