Company Says Drug Helps Treat Alzheimer’s Patients

NeoTherapeutics Inc. said its Neotrofin treatment helped improve the memories of Alzheimer’s disease patients in a clinical trial.

The improvement was more pronounced in the patients with greater memory deficits, based on a limited analysis of the data from the trial, the Irvine biopharmaceutical company said.

More than 400 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease participated in the clinical trial, which started in April 1999 at sites in Canada, South Africa and Australia. Each patient was treated with 50, 150 or 500 milligrams of Neotrofin or a placebo daily for 90 days.

A full analysis of the data will be disclosed at a later date, NeoTherapeutics said.

The company’s stock closed at $10.50, down 44 cents a share, in Nasdaq trading.