 In April 2011, latrepirdine failed in a phase III clinical trial of patients affected with Huntington's disease.The trial was sponsored by Medivation Inc. and Pfizer.Latrepirdine appears to operate through multiple mechanisms of action, both blocking the action of neurotoxic beta-amyloid proteins and inhibiting L-type calcium channels, modulating the action of AMPA and NMDA glutamate receptors, and may exert a neuroprotective effect by blocking a novel target that involves mitochondrial pores, which are believed to play a role in the cell death that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases and the aging process.