Targacept drug fails to hit efficacy mark

Targacept suffered a significant blow today with its announcement that its lead drug program failed to demonstrate efficacy against Alzheimer's. Researchers announced that neither TC-1734 nor Pfizer's donepezil demonstrated a statistically significant improvement over a placebo in a trial undertaken by AstraZeneca. Targacept hasn't abandoned the drug, though, and AstraZeneca will make its decision in December. Release