At an R&D and business briefing meeting that Merck (NYSE: MRK) held for Wall Street analysts at its Whitehouse Station, NJ, headquarters in November, the drug giant generated quite a bit of buzz for a drug that’s still several years away from market. That’s because the drug, called MK-8931, may offer a completely new way to attack Alzheimer’s disease—one of the hottest and most challenging targets in drug development. “We think this is the molecule that will provide the best option for Alzheimer’s patients,” declared Peter Kim, president of Merck Research Laboratories, during a Q&A with analysts towards the end of the meeting.
