Neurocrine falls as investors question schizophrenia drug's trial data

Neurocrine Biosciences

28/08/2024 15:31

(Updates)
    ** Shares of drugmaker Neurocrine Biosciences  NBIX.O  fall
19.3% to $123.21, lowest in over seven months
        ** Stock heads for biggest one-day pct loss since 2013
if losses hold  
  
    ** Company says, during a mid-stage trial, the lowest 20mg
dose of its schizophrenia drug NBI-1117568 achieved a 7.5 points
reduction in a scale used to measure the severity of symptoms,
compared with a placebo
    ** The lowest dose outperformed higher doses of the drug -
prompting investors to question whether the results could be
reproduced in larger trials
    ** The outperformance was "not something that is necessarily
typical in this class - and something that is likely to call
into question the replicability of the results in phase III
(trials)" - RBC Capital analyst Brian Abrahams
    ** Several analysts also compared the trial results to
Bristol Myers Squibb's  BMY.N  schizophrenia drug KarXT
    ** "Results underperform previous 11.6 point reduction seen
by KarXT" - BMO Capital Markets
    ** Including session's moves, stock down 7% YTD

 (Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Sneha S K in Bengaluru)
 ((Christy.Santhosh@thomsonreuters.com))