In the world of biotech's binary events where a company's stock price can swing wildly in value on the announcement of clinical results, good news always helps swing the needle in the positive direction.

That is certainly the case for Cranbury, N.J.-based Palatin Technologies Inc., which saw its shares vault 21.4 percent by close of trading Thursday after reporting positive top-line results from its Phase IIb trial on bremelanotide, a synthetic peptide analogue of the naturally occurring hormone alpha-MSH (melanocyte-stimulating hormone), for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction (FSD).

The data demonstrated that women taking bremelanotide (BMT) showed statistically significant increases in the number of satisfying sexual events (SSEs) and also showed statistically significant improved measures of overall sexual functioning and distress related to sexual dysfunction, compared with placebo.

"The product performed beautifully," said Carl Spana, president and CEO of Palatin, during a conference call to discuss the results.

"We met the objectives of the trial, which demonstrated excellent safety and efficacy of the drug and identified doses for advancement into Phase III trials," Spana said.

Premenopausal women, diagnosed with female sexual arousal disorder, hypoactive sexual desire disorder or both, were enrolled in the study.

Patients were treated for 16 weeks and were randomized to one of four double-blind treatment groups and received placebo or bremelanotide doses of 0.75 mg, 1.25 mg or 1.75 mg.

The study dosed 395 patients with a total of 26 patients discontinuing based on predefined blood pressure criteria: Those patients were evenly distributed across the placebo and bremelanotide dosing arms, Spana said.

The primary endpoint data analysis was conducted on a total 327 premenopausal women, and the results showed a clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement (p = 0.018) in the number of SSEs in women taking bremelanotide doses (mean change from 1.6 at baseline increasing to 2.4; pooled 1.25 mg and 1.75 mg doses) vs. placebo (mean change from 1.7 at baseline increasing to 1.9) over the study period, resulting in a 50 percent increase in SSEs with BMT vs. 12 percent with placebo.

"Women have been clamoring for a biological treatment to FSD and related disorders for years," said Sheryl Kingsberg, a clinical investigator on the study and division chief, OB/GYN Behavioral Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, in Cleveland. "There are presently no FDA-approved therapies for the treatment of female sexual disorders, conditions with major negative health impacts on patients."

On the conference call Kingsberg also said that women were not intimidated by the fact that they had to use a self-injector to administer bremelanotide subcutaneously.

The next steps for the company, Spana added, are to continue to compile and analyze additional data, to start the preparation process for an end-of-Phase II meeting with the FDA and continue discussions with potential collaboration partners. Phase III activities are anticipated to start in the second-half of 2013.

According to analyst Joseph Pantginis, of Roth Capital Partners, "this data provides strong impetus for Palatin to purse BMT in pivotal testing in FSD, and that the company is poised to garner investor and partnering interest going forward.

Palatin Technologies shares closed Thursday at $0.79, up 14 cents.