
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 19, 1993                   TAG: 9308190177
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MORRIS PLAINS, N.J.                                LENGTH: Short

ALZHEIMER'S DRUG CLOSE TO HITTING THE MARKET

Government restrictions imposed on Warner-Lambert Co. should not affect marketing of the first officially approved treatment for Alzheimer's disease, the pharmaceutical maker said Wednesday.

The drug, Cognex, has already been used by about 8,000 patients under a program recently established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"We wouldn't be surprised to see it approved for marketing in the next few weeks," said company spokesman Peter Wolf.

Alzheimer's is a progressive, irreversible disease that destroys brain cells, leading to dementia. About 4 million people in the United States suffer from Alzheimer's.

Cognex has been shown to delay the progression of certain symptoms of the disease by six months to a year, including loss of memory, awareness and cognitive abilities, Wolf said.

The treatment was unanimously approved by an FDA advisory panel in March. The company expects the drug to generate annual revenues in the "hundreds of millions of dollars," Wolf said. The wholesale cost of a daily dose is expected to be about $3, he said.

- Associated Press

by CNB