Dan McGowan,
InsideINdianaBusiness.com

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. is planning to end a clinical trial contract with the University of California, San Diego. The collaboration involves solanezumab, the company’s prospective Alzheimer’s disease treatment.

The pharmaceutical maker says the decision was triggered by a recent series of staff departures, including former ADCS Director Paul Aisen, from UCSD to the University of Southern California, which has caused related legal proceedings between the schools. Calling the situation an “unfortunate dispute,” Lilly says it plans to continue the Anti-amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease study and to maintain the safety of its participants, while ensuring the integrity of the data and science behind the study. Lilly is in discussions to transition management and oversight of the study from UCSD to USC.

Lilly Alzheimer’s Platform Leader Phyllis Ferrell has reinforced the company’s commitment to completing the “landmark” study and says “Lilly has many ongoing collaborations with researchers at UCSD and within the UC system more broadly, and nothing in our decision concerning the A4 study should be read to reflect any diminished enthusiasm in working with UCSD on these other important projects.”

Source: InsideIndianaBusiness.com