Lilly to enroll patients into Alzheimer's treatment study

INDIANAPOLIS Eli Lilly & Co. will begin enrolling patients in a phase 3 study of a drug for treating Alzheimer’s disease, the drug maker announced Thursday.

The 2,000-patient, 16-country study involves two separate but identical trials, dubbed EXPEDITION and EXPEDITION 2, of the monoclonal antibody solanezumab, previously referred to as LY2062430.

The drug is designed to delay the progression of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s by targeting the protein amyloid beta, which theoretically clumps together and kills brain cells in patients with Alzheimer’s.