The Wall Street Journal - 23.10.2019

A8| Wednesday, October 23, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

WORLD NEWS

tional markets, including Eu-

rope and Japan.

If approved, Biogen’s drug

would be the first to slow cog-

nitive decline in Alzheimer’s

patients, a milestone in long-

running efforts to find a medi-

cine that can treat the mem-

ory-robbing disease.

Given the lack of treat-

ments, patients and investors

had been excited by adu-

canumab’s potential when it

started two late-stage trials to

see whether it worked and

should be approved.

But in March, Biogen said it

was discontinuing the studies

early after conducting a so-

called futility analysis in

which researchers looking at

interim results predict

whether a study will fail.

That analysis was based on

data from patients who had

completed 18 months in the

trials through December 2018,

or 49% of patients enrolled in

the first trial and 57% of pa-

tients in the second trial.

After discontinuing the tri-

als, Biogen reanalyzed the

data based on additional data

from patients who had com-

pleted the trial between De-

cember and March.

The new data showed that

the drug’s highest dose suc-

ceeded in the second trial in

significantly slowing patients’

cognitive decline compared

with placebo, Biogen said.

The first study was still

considered a failure in the new

analysis, but its results looked

more encouraging when look-

ing only at patients who took

the highest dose for extended

periods, the company said.

P. Murali Doraiswamy, pro-

fessor of psychiatry and be-

havioral sciences at Duke Uni-

versity School of Medicine,

said in an interview that the

of the doubt” if the company

can show the failed study is

supportive of the successful

study, he said.

But whether regulators will

clear the drug for sale, or

whether insurers will pay for

it, is unclear.

Fornow,investorsarebet-

ting that Biogen’s consulta-

tions with the FDA are a good

indication the agency will

overlook any flaws in how the

studies were conducted to ap-

prove the first new drug for a

devastating disease affecting

millions of people in the U.S.

The surge in Biogen’s share

price on Tuesday suggests in-

vestors see a 50% chance of

the drug being approved, said

Geoffrey Porges, an SVB

Leerink LLC analyst.

Mr. Porges said he worries

about the economic impact

that an approval could have on

the U.S. health-care system.

“The breakthrough medicines

that make a really big differ-

ence are expensive enough,”

Mr. Porges said. “But here you

could have millions of patients

using a medicine with what

appears to be a fairly modest

effect, if any effect. Is that the

type of thing we should be

bankrupting Medicaid for?”

Biogen’s reversal is also

likely to reignite debate over

the hypothesis that has in-

formed much of the recent re-

search and investment into

potential Alzheimer’s drugs:

that the buildup in the brain

of a sticky substance called

Beta amyloid plays a pivotal

role in the disease.

Drugs like aducanumab tar-

get the sticky tangles with the

goal of slowing or halting the

progression of the disorder.

But a number of drugs devel-

oped with the idea in mind

have failed.

makers to examine the small

print of the deal and propose

amendments that could frus-

trateitortrytotiethegov-

ernment’s hand in other ways.

“The House has refused to

be bounced into debating a

hugely significant piece of leg-

islation in just two days with

barely any notice or an analy-

sis of the economic impact of

this bill,” said Jeremy Corbyn,

leader of the main opposition

Labour Party.

Compelled by Parliament,

the British government has al-

ready written to the EU to ask

for a three-month delay to

Brexit. Mr. Johnson said Tues-

day he would accelerate pre-

cautions in case EU govern-

ments refuse the extension

and the country leaves after

all without a deal on Oct. 31.

But there was little pros-

pect that the other 27 EU gov-

ernments would refuse an ex-

tension. After Tuesday’s

parliamentary votes, European

Council President Donald Tusk

tweeted that he “will recom-

mend the EU27 accept the UK

request for an extension.”

EU officials said the recom-

mendation would be to grant

the extension until Jan. 31, but

any postponement could prob-

ably be cut short if a deal

Lawmakers

Endorse

Brexit Deal

new data Biogen released

looked encouraging but more

detailed results are needed be-

fore drawing any definitive

conclusions whether adu-

canumab works.

Biogen’s plan to use two

discontinued studies for a new

drug approval is unusual, not

least because making public

that the studies had failed

could introduce bias into the

results from trial investiga-

tors, Dr. Doraiswamy said.

Still, “the FDA would be

likely to give them the benefit

The drug would be

the first to slow

cognitive decline

from Alzheimer’s.

OTTAWA—Canadian Prime

Minister Justin Trudeau, after

an election win that left him

with a weakened mandate, must

quickly turn his focus to finding

common ground among rivals

to maintain his grip on power.

Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party

emerged short of a majority of

seats in the Canadian Parlia-

ment after Monday’s election,

and his share of the popular

vote fell to 33% from a 40%

showing in 2015.

The task of managing a mi-

nority government should be

made slightly easier by the

distribution of votes. Results

showed the Liberals won or

were leading in 157 seats, or

13 seats short of a majority.

Mr. Trudeau would need the

support of just one other

party to get legislation passed.

The Liberals should be able

to find agreement with other

parties, particularly on the

left, said Lori Williams, a po-

litical analyst at Mount Royal

University in Calgary, Alberta.

“He should be able to put to-

gether some kind of agenda

where he can get the support

he needs on an issue-by-issue

basis,” she said.

Minority governments aren’t

unusual in Canada. Former Con-

servative Prime Minister Ste-

phen Harper ruled in a minority

situation between 2006 and

2011. The last time a political
      party won back-to-back majority
      governments was in the 1990s.
      “You have asked us to invest
      in Canadians, to continue the
      process of reconciliation with
      indigenous peoples and make it

a priority, and to show more vi-

sion and ambition as we tackle

the greatest challenge of this

era, climate change,” Mr.

Trudeau said Tuesday. “That is

exactly what we will do.”

During the campaign, Mr.

Trudeau promised that the

Liberals would continue to run

deficits to invest in infrastruc-

ture and offer tax breaks,

whereas the Conservatives

said they would balance the

budget in five years. The Lib-

erals also promised to ban

military-style assault rifles

and vowed to meet aggressive

carbon-reduction targets.

The New Democratic Party

is one possible partner for Mr.

Trudeau. The left-wing party

helped prop up a Liberal mi-

nority government in 2005.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh

said the hung Parliament gives

his party “a chance to fight for

the things that we have laid

out during this campaign.”

Mr. Singh named some of

his priority items in a speech

Tuesday before supporters in

suburban Vancouver, including

a national plan to offer univer-

sal drug and dental coverage,

price caps on cellphone ser-

vices and waiving interest

payments on student debt.

He also pushed for more ur-

gent action on climate change.

However, the NDP would

likely be willing to move closer

to the center in a compromise

with the Liberals to avoid an-

other election soon. The party

lost a third of its seats on Mon-

day, and its fundraising has

lagged behind other parties.

“I don’t think Trudeau will

want to go to the NDP with cap

in hand,” said Lori Turnbull,

political-science professor at

Dalhousie University in Halifax,

Nova Scotia. “Trudeau has a

strong plurality of seats. He will

have to negotiate, and make

concessions, but he should be

able to make this minority gov-

ernment work for a while.”

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-

François Blanchet, whose

party was on track to win 32

seats in the province, said his

party would also be open to

working with the Liberals, as

long as proposed legislation

benefits Québec. If not, he

added, “we will have quite a

bit of leverage” in forcing the

government’s hand.

Conservative Party leader

Andrew Scheer said the elec-

tion results “put Mr. Trudeau

on notice. When your govern-

ment falls, Conservatives will

be ready and we will win.”

BYPAULVIEIRA

ANDKIMMACKRAEL

Trudeau Seeks Governing Partners

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, front row in the center, in Parliament on Tuesday after the government’s timetable for leaving the EU was voted down.

PARLIAMENTARY RECORDING UNIT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

ality provisions in federal law.

Shares in Biogen surged

26% to $281.87. When the

company and partner Eisai &

Co. said in March they would

terminate the late-stage stud-

ies, Biogen lost about $18 bil-

lion in market value. Even af-

ter Tuesday’s surge, Biogen

shares were down 6.3% since

the end of last year.

The company said it plans

to seek approval for adu-

canumab in early 2020 and

would continue talks with reg-

ulatory authorities in interna-

Continued from Page One

FROM PAGE ONE

Biogen

Reverses on

New Drug

art, a former Conservative who

voted for Mr. Johnson’s Brexit

deal but against the com-

pressed timetable. If Brexit

was intended as “an exercise

in regaining the sovereignty of

Parliament, then treat Parlia-

ment with respect,” he said.

The second vote accords

lawmakers more time to con-

sider the 110-page divorce deal

and hundreds of pages of re-

lated documents. There is still

the potential for amendments

that could attach conditions to

the deal, including a possible

referendum to gauge public

support for leaving the EU more

than three years after a major-

ity voted to leave the bloc.

The first vote, which gave

lawmakers an opportunity to

declare whether they were in

principle in favor of the deal,

was passed by 329 votes to

299. The government was sup-
     ported by 19 lawmakers from
     the main opposition Labour
     Party. The second vote reject-
     ing the government’s timeta-
     ble was narrower, with a tally

Continued from Page One

of 322 to 308.

Labour Brexit supporters

“wanted to show constituents

that they didn’t want to block

the process” of passing Brexit,

said Thangam Debbonaire, a

senior Labour lawmaker. But

the temporary alliance that

coalesced to pass the deal is

fragile and could break up, for

example, if these lawmakers

back amendments the govern-

ment can’t accept.

Though there is a distance

to go, the deal’s progress

marks a remarkable turn-

around for the prime minister,

who in the space of three

months has managed to both

renegotiate an agreement with

the EU and persuade Britain’s

deeply divided House of Com-

mons of its broad merits.

“Nobody thought that we

could secure the approval of

the House for a new deal. We

should not overlook the signif-

icance of this moment,” Mr.

Johnson said, adding that he

was disappointed that law-

makers rejected his timetable.

“One way or another we

will leave the EU with this

deal, to which this House has

just given its assent,” he said

in the Commons.

Lawmakers had by then re-

jected the government’s plan

to fast-track the legislation to

get the country out of the bloc

by the end of the month. That

will give extra time for law-

were in place.

Tuesday’s votes leave many

other outstanding questions.

As the leader of a minority

government, Mr. Johnson has

previously pushed for an elec-

tion before Christmas to capi-

talize on the Conservatives’

lead in the polls. But he doesn’t

have the votes to trigger such

an election, and Parliament’s

continued work on Brexit in

the coming weeks makes that

timetable more unlikely.

Mr. Johnson has already

progressed further with his

deal than his predecessor The-

resa May ever did: Parliament

voted her deal down three

times. Mr. Johnson managed

to build momentum behind his

plan with a simple selling

point: Britain wants to get

Brexit done and move on.

The agreement Mr. Johnson

negotiated last week with the

EU covers payments to the

bloc, citizens’ rights and an

arrangement to avoid a physi-

cal border from being rebuilt

on the island of Ireland. De-

spite running a minority gov-

ernment, Mr. Johnson man-

aged to win over to his cause a

cluster of opposition Labour

lawmakers who back Brexit. It

also allows a transition period

until at least the end of 2020

during which U.K.-EU relations

remain essentially unchanged

and the U.K. follows the bloc’s

rules and standards.

Yes-or-novoteonBrexitdeal

Source: U.K. Parliament

Note: Over 314 votes (yes-or-no) and 315 votes (timetable) represents a majority.

0 314

Yes(329)

No(299)

Conservative DUP Labour Other

Voteontimetabletoturnbill

intolaw

0 315

Yes(308)

No(322)

Pass/Fail

BorisJohnsonwonlawmakers'preliminarybackingforhisBrexit

dealbutlostavoteonhisacceleratedtimetabletopushthebill

throughParliament.

TEL AVIV—The task of form-

ing Israel’s next government

falls on Wednesday to former

military chief Benny Gantz,

who will have to address con-

flicting demands from dispa-

rate political parties to succeed.

President Reuven Rivlin is

tapping Mr. Gantz after Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

told him he couldn’t form a rul-

ing coalition.

Mr. Gantz has advocated a

unity government, with his

Blue and White party ruling

alongside Mr. Netanyahu’s Li-

kud and others—but said Mr.

Netanyahu couldn’t be part of it

while he faces possible criminal

charges, a position Likud has

rejected.

If neither side budges, Mr.

Gantz may try to cobble to-

gether a minority ruling coali-

tion.

Mr. Netanyahu, the country’s

longest-serving premier, was

given the first chance to form a

government after an inconclu-

sive election in September, the

country’s second this year.

Mr. Gantz, like the incum-

bent, will have 28 days to form

a coalition once he receives the

mandate. His effort will be the

latest test of whether political

leaders can bridge social, eco-

nomic and political differences

in their divided country.

“We finished the morning

warm-up,” he told reporters

who caught him while return-

ing from a workout on Tuesday.

“Now we’re really getting to

work.”

While the first-time politi-

cian faces many of the same

challenges that undermined Mr.

Netanyahu’s attempts, the de-

sire of political players to avoid

a third election could make

some more flexible.

Mr. Gantz’s Blue and White

party said it would push to

form a majority coalition that

includes the two largest par-

ties, Blue and White and Likud,

and smaller, secular, right- and

left-wing parties.

But standing in the way are

Mr. Gantz’s refusal to sit with

Mr. Netanyahu while he faces

corruption charges and his op-

position to joining with reli-

gious parties that are a part of

the Likud-led group. Mr. Netan-

yahu has denied the charges,

and Likud is expected to stand

by him.

“The option that seems

more realistic at this point is a

minority government led by Mr.

Gantz,” said Yohanan Plesner,

president of the Israel Democ-

racy Institute, a Jerusalem-

based think tank.

Mr. Gantz, who entered poli-

tics late last year as a popular

former military chief, would

likely follow the same path as

Mr. Netanyahu on strengthen-

ing his country’s alliance with

the U.S., securing its borders

and countering Iran.

The looming prospect of a

third election could empower

Mr. Gantz in coalition talks.

If Mr. Gantz fails to form a

government, 61 members of the

Knesset can put forward a dif-

ferent candidate to try to build

a coalition. If that fails or they

don’t come up with a candi-

date, the country would go to a

third election.

BYFELICIASCHWARTZ

ANDDOVLIEBER

Gantz

Must

Bridge

Israel’s

Rivalries