UPDATE 1-Failed Alzheimer's drug showed signs of working-studies

* Significantly cut levels of Alzheimer's related proteins

* Findings suggest drug may work in earlier-stage disease

* Dose, side effects may be an issue (Adds analyst's, expert's comments, background)

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, Sept 11 (Reuters) - New data on Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson (TLO: JNJ-U.TI - news) 's Alzheimer's drug, bapineuzumab, show the treatment reduced underlying markers of the disease in some patients, suggesting the failed medication might work at an earlier stage.

The findings from two large studies, presented at a European neurology meeting in Stockholm on Tuesday, followed the companies' announcement last month that they were scrapping large-scale clinical trials of the drug after it failed to improve memory or thinking skills in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's.

Many researchers had expected bapineuzumab to fail this test because they believe that Alzheimer's starts years before memory problems become apparent, and that treatment when patients already have dementia may be too late.

But they have been eagerly awaiting the so-called biomarker results, which measure fluids and tissues in the body, to see if the drug hit its biological targets and therefore, could work at an earlier stage of the disease.

The biomarker results show that bapineuzumab significantly reduced levels of the protein beta amyloid on the brain scans of patients with a gene mutation that increases their risk of Alzheimer's, compared with subjects who were give a placebo.

The drug also significantly reduced the amount of a toxic form of the protein tau in spinal fluid, a sign of brain cell death, compared with patients who were given a placebo.

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UPDATE 1-Failed Alzheimer's drug showed signs of working-studies