With positive top-line data reported for Axsome Therapeutics Inc.’s oral migraine candidate, AXS-07, in its INTERCEPT trial, the company and the candidate have notched two successful phase III trials in little more than three months.
Investors warmed to biopharma company equities, particularly in the final quarter of the year, with the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index increasing 23% in value during this period, helping the group climb to a respectable 14% for the year after being underwater from April through to September.
Fueled by new positive data, Axsome Therapeutics Inc. plans to seek approval during the second half of 2020 for its dextromethorphan/bupropion modulated delivery tablet, AXS-05, an oral NMDA receptor antagonist to treat major depressive disorder.
After dropping to its lowest valuation at the end of September, the BioWorld Neurological Diseases index, a price-weighted index of public biopharmaceutical companies that are focused on developing therapies to treat neurological diseases, got on a roll and climbed 22% during the next two months. However, a surprising trial failure reported by Sage Therapeutics Inc. last week served to eat into those index gains.
Word from the FDA to Axsome Therapeutics Inc. about the effort with oral N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist AXS-05 in depression – and the company's accelerated push with the compound – had Wall Street watching the NMDA space with even more interest than usual.
