According to the report of Eli Lilly's Chief executive, a patient who had been out on trials of the company's experimental Alzheimer's disease drug solanezumab had developed swelling in brain. Although this swelling is known to be a temporary one, but the fact behind this illness is still not confirmed. The patient was actually consuming the Lilly drug or a placebo needs to be revealed.

Another drug being developed by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, which is known to be the rivalry drug of Solanezumab, if consumed in higher doses can also result in potentially dangerous brain swelling. This experimental drug is called bapineuzumab, and still has some doubts regarding its approval.

During the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, the CEO of Lilly, John Lechleiter, shared important information with the investors. According to him, about 2000 patients were enrolled for the two late-stage trials of solanezumab and have successfully completed the process. They are safe and appear to be in good position. However, the two trials that are still in process at Lily have still not being revealed about the use of drug.

According to Lechleiter, whose presentation was webcasted, one patient suffered from asymptomatic vasogenic edema, which means building up of fluid in the brain but that did not sourced symptoms. Also during the brain scan, no problem was seen; hence the patient was able to resume the treatment.