‘Heavy blow’ for Alzheimer’s as Pfizer pulls out of hunt for cure

THE search for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease suffered a “heavy blow” after the world’s largest drugs company announced it was halting research efforts into finding new treatments.

Pfizer is expected to cut 300 jobs globally, including many British researchers based at laboratories in Andover, Hants, and Cambridge.

It follows years of failed drugs trials for Alzheimer’s treatments, which have cost the Us-based company dearly.

Dr James Pickett, the head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It’s disappointing to hear that Pfizer, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, will be terminating their research efforts in neuroscience, including Alzheimer’s disease drug discovery.

“This will come as a heavy blow to the estimated 46.8million people currently living with the condition across the globe.”

However, charities said there were still reasons to be hopeful that new treatments would be found. When he was prime minister, David Cameron committed Britain to finding a disease modifying treatment by 2025.

Pfizer will also stop looking for new treatments for Parkinson’s disease. However, the company said the restructuring would not affect research into drugs for rare neurological diseases.

“This was an exercise to re-allocate spending across our portfolio, to focus on those areas where our pipeline, and our scientific expertise, is strongest,” said a spokesman for the company.