Academic and industry experts said on Tuesday they have convinced U.S. regulators to ease safety restrictions imposed on clinical trials of Alzheimer’s drugs, a move that could improve the chances that a drug being developed jointly by Pfizer (PFE.N) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) might succeed. A 2008 study of 240 patients testing that drug, known as bapineuzumab, found a dozen cases of a brain swelling condition called vasogenic edema, shaking confidence in the safety of agents that reduce levels of a protein called beta amyloid that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
