Eli Lilly and Co’s experimental drug solanezumab, which seeks to treat Alzheimer’s disease, may fail its pivotal studies, Jefferies & Co said, downgrading the stock to “underperform” from “hold.” Eli Lilly is expected to unveil by next month data from the highly anticipated studies on solanezumab, which has completed two late-stage trials. “We expect that solanezumab will outright fail its pivotal studies in Alzheimer’s disease ... with only a 25 percent chance of being effective in a niche population,” Jefferies analyst Jeffrey Holford said.
