Transition Therapeutic shares jump on trial results

* Trial results show high level of the drug stays in brain

* Shares jump 16 percent

TORONTO, July 13 (Reuters) - Transition Therapeutics Inc's (TTH.TO) shares jumped more than 16 percent on Monday on positive results from an early stage study for its Alzheimer's disease treatment.

The small Toronto-based drugmaker said a Phase 1 study for ELND005, an orally-administered drug, showed that high concentrations of the drug remained in brain tissue.

The data also showed that the treatment preserved choline acetyltransferase, an enzyme that is contained in neurons, which helps preserve nerve cells.

Claude Camire, an analyst at Paradigm Capital, said the early stage data was positive because it showed that patients would be required to take lower dosages.

"The results were positive in demonstrating that the drug crosses the blood brain barrier, therefore it is easier for Transition to adjust the dose for different Alzheimer's patients," Camire said.

"The high dose has a very high safety profile, however it is still uncertain, until it has completed Phase 2, if those trials will carry a benefit and reduce the Alzheimer's symptoms."

The shares of the company were up 96 Canadian cents at C$6.98 on the Toronto Stock Exchange late on Monday morning.

Transition and Elan Corp (ELN.I) signed a worldwide development and commercialization agreement in 2006 for the treatment.

Alzheimer's disease, which is a leading cause of dementia, is a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys a person's memory and ability to learn, reason, or make judgments.

($1=$1.16 Canadian) (Reporting by Scott Anderson; editing by Peter Galloway)