Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD), whose phase III clinical trial results of Parkinson's drug Pimavanserin are expected by the end of third-quarter, hit a new 52-week high of $3.75 on Friday.
Pimavanserin, which is under late-stage testing for the treatment of Parkinson's disease psychosis or PDP, is developed by Acadia in collaboration with Canadian drug company Biovail Corp. (BVF). Under a collaboration agreement crafted in May, Biovail would develop, manufacture and commercialize Pimavanserin in the United States and Canada, while Acadia retains rights to the drug in the rest of the world. In addition to product royalties, Acadia has the option to co-promote Pimavanserin in the United States.
According to phase II results released last April, Pimavanserin met the endpoint of the study as it did not worsen Parkinsonism symptoms that affect activities of daily living and motor function, as measured by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. The use of Pimavanserin was shown to be safe and well tolerated.
Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurological disorder that results from the degeneration of neurons in a region of the brain that controls movement. According to the American Parkinson's Disease Association, over 1.5 million people in the United States suffer from this disease. Studies have suggested that up to 40% of patients with Parkinson's disease will develop psychotic symptoms, commonly consisting of visual hallucinations and delusions.
Merck & Co. Inc.(MRK)/Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s (BMY) Carbidopa-Levodopa, which lost patent protection decades back, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s (TEVA) Azilect, and Novartis AG's (NVS) Comtan, are some of the FDA-approved drugs to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Azilect logged in sales of $175 million, while Comtan grossed $502 million in sales in 2008.
According to Jason Napodano, a Senior Equity Research Analyst at Zacks, Pimavanserin has the potential to generate sales of $200 million for the indication of Parkinson's disease.
In addition to Parkinson's disease, Pimavanserin is also being evaluated as a co-therapy for schizophrenia, and for the treatment of sleep maintenance insomnia.
Acadia also has plans to develop and commercialize Pimavanserin for multiple neurological and psychiatric indications, including psychosis in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
The other clinical-stage drugs in Acadia's pipeline include:
-- AGN XX/YY, a treatment for chronic pain being developed in collaboration with Allergan Inc. (AGN), which is under phase II development and
-- AC-262271, a treatment of glaucoma being developed in collaboration with Allergan, which is under phase I development.
Acadia, formerly known as Receptor Technologies Inc., was founded in 1993. The name was changed to Acadia Pharmaceuticals in August 1997. Acadia went public in May 2004 pricing its IPO at $7 per share.
The company has not been profitable and has incurred substantial operating losses since its inception due in large part to expenditures for its research and development activities. At March 31, 2009, the company had an accumulated deficit of $309.1 million.
For the first-quarter ended March 31, 2009 Acadia Pharma reported a net loss of $15 million or $0.40 per share, compared to a net loss of $16.38 million or $0.44 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Acadia has yet to generate revenues from product sales, and revenues to date have been generated substantially from research and milestone payments under the company's current and past collaboration agreements. Collaborative revenue for the first-quarter of fiscal 2009 was $374 thousand, down from $806 thousand in the comparable quarter a year before.
ACAD, which hit a 52-week high of $3.75 on Friday, pulled back a bit to close the day's trading session at $3.41 on a volume of 3.35 million shares.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com