Neurochem Inc. has launched its European Phase III clinical trial on Alzhemed, following an investigators' meeting attended by more than 250 clinicians and health professionals in Vienna, Austria, from September 9 to September 11, 2005. Alzhemed is the company's investigational product candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Azhemed is an orally administered, small organic molecule specifically designed to modify the course of AD by binding to soluble amyloid ß (Aß) protein and keeping it in a non-fibrillar form. There are 73 centres in ten countries which have been selected by Neurochem to conduct the trial, of which many are centres of excellence of the European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium (EADC).

The multi-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel designed European Phase III clinical trial will investigate the safety and efficacy of Alzhemed in treating AD, with some 930 mild-to-moderate AD patients taking part in the trial. They will be randomized to receive either placebo or one of two different dose levels of Alzhemed for a period of 18 months, in addition to their regular treatment with one of a number of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, a company release stated.

Bruno Vellas, one of the Principal Investigators of Alzhemed's Phase III clinical trial in Europe for the EADC said, "Alzhemed's good tolerability profile and unique mechanism of action aimed at stopping the progression of the disease rather than targeting the symptoms are particularly interesting. The enthusiasm evidenced by the large attendance at our recent investigator meeting in Vienna for this Phase III illustrates the European medical community's interest in and the excitement about participating in this trial."