Acadia Pharma Shares Crash After Lead Parkinsons Drug Fails in Trial
Summary
The company (NASDAQ:ACAD) reported this morning that its experimental drug, pimavanserin, was unable to significantly reduce the number of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease when compared with a placebo in a study of 298 patients.This is also bad news for Acadia’s collaborator Biovail, the Canadian biotech firm that forked over $30 million upfront this spring as part of deal to develop pimavanserin for Parkinson’s patients.Still, Acadia is awaiting results of a second late-stage clinical trial of pimavanserin and is also developing the drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease, according to Alan Carr, a biotech analyst at investment banking and research firm Needham & Company in New York.“While we expect the stock to trade at… $1.78 [per] share … for the foreseeable future, we believe there is modest long-term potential for pimavanserin in another [central nervous system] indication,” Carr wrote in a note to investors this morning.Acadia has other drugs in earlier stages of clinical development, including an experimental treatment for chronic pain and another for glaucoma in partnership with the California-based healthcare products firm Allergan (NYSE:AGN).