Acadia's Alzheimer's psychosis drug misses main goal of mid-stage study
ACAD•Acadia Pharmaceuticals said its experimental drug remlifanserin missed the main goal of a mid-stage study for Alzheimer's disease psychosis. Shares fell about 12% in premarket trading.
1. Study misses main goal
The 60-milligram once-daily dose showed greater improvement than placebo, but not enough to meet the study's main goal of reducing hallucinations and delusions after six weeks. The difference between the groups increased throughout the treatment period, while the 30-milligram dose showed little improvement compared with placebo.
2. Company continues testing
Remlifanserin achieved statistical significance on a key secondary measure of overall Alzheimer's disease psychosis symptom severity. Acadia said it will continue enrolling patients in two late-stage studies and stop testing the 30-milligram dose. Side-effect rates and treatment discontinuations were similar to placebo; the company reported no apparent adverse effects on movement or cognitive function and no deaths among patients receiving the drug.
