Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA scored €44 million (US$46.26 million) up front in a potential €117 million licensing deal with EA Pharma Co. Ltd. to pad the clinical runway of its late-stage oral schizophrenia asset, evenamide (NW-3509), sending company stock prices up near 20%.
Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA scored €44 million (US$46.26 million) up front in a potential €117 million licensing deal with EA Pharma Co. Ltd. to pad the clinical runway of its late-stage oral schizophrenia asset, evenamide (NW-3509), sending company stock prices up near 20%.
Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA added heft to the data supporting evenamide, reporting positive top-line results from a phase II/III placebo-controlled trial of the glutamate inhibitor in patients with chronic schizophrenia who were receiving a second-generation antipsychotic, but having an inadequate response to that treatment.
Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA has reported what it claims are “exceptional” results in the 12-month analysis of a phase II open-label trial of evenamide in treatment-resistant schizophrenia. The glutamate modulator produced benefits “of a kind that have never been reported before,” the company said.
Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA has reported positive six-month data for its selective sodium channel blocker, evenamide, as an add-on therapy to antipsychotic drugs in chronic, treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Patients who had responded at the initial six-week evaluation showed continued improvements in symptoms of psychosis, while others who had not responded at six weeks did so by six months.
Schizophrenia remains one of the toughest mental health issues to treat, as well as an indication that has created substantial challenges for drug makers. The pipeline of potential new schizophrenia medicines is busy, with Cortellis showing that 10 new phase III schizophrenia trials that began recruiting patients in 2021 and 59 phase III trials ongoing at the end of the year.
Shares of Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA (SIX:NWRN) fell more than 71% May 4 on news that sarizotan, its experimental therapy for the rare neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome, failed to meet both the primary and secondary efficacy endpoints of the company's pivotal STARS study, leading it to terminate the program.
