Neurocrine halts development of schizophrenia drug as trial fails

[September 13, 2024]  (Reuters) -Neurocrine Biosciences said on Thursday it will halt the development of its experimental drug, aimed at improving cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia, after it did not achieve the primary goal in a mid-stage trial.

The company said the drug, luvadaxistat, did not replicate the results from a previous mid-stage trial that showed improved cognitive performance, due to a large variability in the cognitive measures across the patients and a potential imbalance in their baseline characteristics.

In the previous study, luvadaxistat failed to meet the main goal of change from baseline in negative symptoms of schizophrenia, however, it met the secondary goal of improving cognitive performance.

Neurocrine said it will focus its resources on late-stage development of its other schizophrenia and depression drug candidates.

Shares of the company were down 2.5% in extended trading.

Last month, the company said its other schizophrenia drug, NBI-1117568, helped reduce the severity of symptoms in a mid-stage trial, but there were concerns whether the benefit could be replicated in larger trials.

(Reporting by Puyaan Singh; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi and Shinjini Ganguli)

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