(CNN) Drug company Merck said Tuesday it's halting the late-stage trial of its promising Alzheimer's drug verubecestat, after an independent study found that it had "virtually no chance" of working. While two well-established risk factors for Alzheimer's are genetics and aging, "there is hope that adopting healthy brain life habits might delay or prevent the appearance of Alzheimer's disease," the Alzheimer's Association says. This figure is expected to double every 20 years to reach 131 million people in 2050, according to Alzheimer's Disease International. "There's a trial of another important drug for Alzheimer's, aducanumab , being run by Biogen -- another pharmaceutical company -- which has shown interesting and encouraging signs." The results of Merck's trial of verubecestat on patients with early stage Alzheimer's are expected in February 2019.

Source: CNN February 15, 2017 05:03 UTC