Axovant Sciences Ltd announced that its experimental drug targeting Alzheimer’s patients failed to meet the main goals in a late-stage trial. The drug, intepirdine, was being tested in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s who did not respond to initial therapy, and was compared with a placebo.
“While we are deeply disappointed by these trial results, we also are saddened for the millions of patients and families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease. However, we believe that the fight against Alzheimer’s and other important areas of unmet need in neurology is too important to be derailed by this setback,” said David Hung, M.D., chief executive officer of Axovant. “We are grateful to the investigators, patients and caregivers who participated in this important trial and supported us in this journey. Moreover, we remain committed to advancing our pipeline, which includes our Phase 2b HEADWAY study of intepirdine, and nelotanserin, our highly selective inverse agonist of the 5-HT2A receptor in Phase 2 development, both of which are being evaluated in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies.”
In the MINDSET trial, at 24 weeks, patients treated with intepirdine did not experience improvement in cognition or in measures of activities of daily living as measured by the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) and by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living scale (ADCS-ADL), respectively, compared to those treated with placebo.
Shares of the company were halted in premarket trading on Tuesday
Source: Financial Times
