ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ACAD), a biopharmaceutical company utilizing innovative technology to fuel drug discovery and clinical development of novel treatments for central nervous system disorders, today provided an update on its Phase III program with pimavanserin for Parkinson’s disease psychosis (PDP), which is being pursued in collaboration with Biovail Laboratories International SRL (“Biovail”), a subsidiary of Biovail Corporation. Following the announcement on September 1st of disappointing top-line results from the first Phase III PDP trial, ACADIA and Biovail remain committed to the successful development of pimavanserin and have established a development strategy that they believe will strengthen the PDP program. The parties also intend to pursue adjunctive therapy with pimavanserin for schizophrenia as a third indication in the collaboration.
“We remain enthusiastic about pimavanserin’s prospects in a number of specialty CNS indications, including schizophrenia where existing data for the molecule as co-therapy are compelling,” said Bill Wells, Biovail’s Chief Executive Officer. “The steps we’re taking today are designed to fully exploit pimavanserin’s potential and to bring this novel therapeutic to market as quickly as possible.”
ACADIA has conducted a substantial portion of the analysis of the data from its first Phase III PDP trial with pimavanserin (-012 Study). While the -012 Study did not meet its primary endpoint of antipsychotic efficacy and had a larger than expected placebo response, signals of antipsychotic efficacy were observed in the pimavanserin 40 mg study arm. These signals were most prominent in the United States portion of the study, which comprised nearly one-half of the patients in the trial. The efficacy signals also were supported by additional secondary and exploratory measures, including efficacy measures and favorable outcomes in assessments of sleep and caregiver burden. Several findings from the -012 Study will be used in the design of future PDP studies to help mitigate the placebo response and to increase the chances of success. These findings relate to dose selection, the method and application of ratings, and other study design elements.