Pfizer Halts Development of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Drugs

Over the weekend, the Boston Globe reports, Pfizer announced that it was halting development of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's drugs. Company officials say the cuts will occur over several months. An official Pfizer statement read: "This was an exercise to reallocate spending across our portfolio, to focus on those areas where our pipeline, and our scientific expertise, is strongest." Successful development of an effective drug to treat Alzheimer's has been elusive. Still, other companies including Cambridge-based Biogen continue to pursue such treatments.