ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Sinks After Schizophrenia Drug Failed In Late-stage Study

(RTTNews) - Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD) are down more than 18 percent in pre-market on Tuesday at $19.71, after its schizophrenia drug candidate failed to meet the primary endpoint in late-stage study.

Topline results from the Phase 3 ADVANCE-2 study showed that pimavanserin did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement over placebo on the study's primary endpoint, the change from baseline on the Negative Symptom Assessment-16 (NSA-16) total score.

The NSA-16 scale is designed to measure change on the wide range of predominant negative symptoms that patients experience, which looks at 16 different items and covers symptoms such as blunted affect, poor socialization and lack of motivation.?

The company said that it does not intend to conduct any further clinical trials with pimavanserin.

ACADIA shares had closed at $2.13, up 2.94 percent on Tuesday. The stock has traded in the range of $17.71 - $33.99 in the last 1 year.