It's really alarming to see such a large pharmaceutical company deciding to abandon research into the brain and central nervous system," James Beck, chief scientific officer at the Parkinson's Foundation, told me Monday. "It's telling for how difficult it is to do research into neurodegenerative diseases."

Of even greater concern, he said, is that "having Pfizer exit does not augur well for what other companies are likely to do."

THIS ... is a pretty big story if true (not saying I doubt it, but ... an article would be handy to show to people).

Do other drug companies have research still going on into these illnesses, I hope?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pfizer-alzheimers/pfizer-ends-research-for-new-alzheimers-parkinsons-drugs-idUSKBN1EW0TN

http://fortune.com/2018/01/16/pfizer-parkinsons-alzheimers-research/

because the clinical trials have not been successful, and they are reallocating resources to other diseases that have more success of coming to market

The tax cuts that were sold to the public were always a lie that they would create jobs. Jobs are created by demand for a product or services

There is no doubt that the tax cut will result in corporate bonuses, share buybacks, and dividend increases, not job creations

was a lie perpetuated by the republicans. Tax cuts have never created new jobs. That isn't how jobs are created.

Hubby works in Pharma and I asked him about this news. He said the same. Their trial failed so they will reassign or lay off those scientists who can go elsewhere. Trial failures are huge losses for companies and our government should help fund these projects for the greater good, but we have 45 now. We’re all screwed.

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2018/01/05/cutbacks-at-pfizer

Derek is infamous for his chlorine trifluoride blog post...

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2008/02/26/sand_wont_save_you_this_time

The compound also a stronger oxidizing agent than oxygen itself, which also puts it into rare territory. That means that it can potentially go on to “burn” things that you would normally consider already burnt to hell and gone, and a practical consequence of that is that it’ll start roaring reactions with things like bricks and asbestos tile. It’s been used in the semiconductor industry to clean oxides off of surfaces, at which activity it no doubt excels.

and that is the goal of the republican party!

and to jettison risky R&D. Probably not bad enough to change enough deplorable minds to dump Donnie "the chin" (leader of the GOP mafia).

If taxes are 35%, then the government is effectively covering 35% if your losses on research.

If taxes are 20%, the government is only covering 20% of the losses.

pocket the profits. Mostly the public gets screwed anyway the ball bounces.

The fools who think they are in charge are too dumb to be anti-science, they are actually just pro-stupid

help patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s in its second round of clinical trials. They were working with Johnson and Johnson on this, and the layoffs are directly related that, not to the tax cuts.

They are still funding R&D programs for other diseases

As for the share buy back and the dividend increase, that is related to the tax cut, and there is no doubt that a lot of companies will be doing similar things.

The lie that was being sold to the public was that the tax cuts would motivate companies to create new jobs. The fact is that jobs are not created by tax cuts, but demand for their products or services

And why did they cut 300 research jobs? They can't research other things?

Or, how much more money are they making by cutting those jobs?

layoffs, they were from the neuroscience division where that work was being done, and when they cancelled the research, the people involved in that research were affected.

Tax cuts or no tax cuts, when a company cancels a project, people within that project are vulnerable to layoffs. Why they didn't move those people to other areas? It wasn't because of the tax cuts, I suspect it was because they didn't find a good fit for them in other areas, or they had no openings in the other areas.

I know from personal experience when I was a clinical chemist that is how things went down. Later in my career when I became a software engineer, same thing. If I am on a project and they cancel that project, I am subject to a layoff unless I can find an opening in another project

Meds for diseases of the aged less profitable. It is about their bottom line. And yeah, anyone who argued that the tax cuts would do anything for the common good was always full of shit. They’re working on new pain killers.

Let alone once they feel dementia had begun. Expensive, time consuming and they need better tests to predict who will get it in order to focus those studies. Depressing, my dad had Parkinson’s and Mom has Alzheimer’s.

She said it’s inherently difficult to conduct studies. Each participant needs another one in the form of a friend or loved one who they see often and can vouch for their mental state or acuity. Daunting.