Johnson and Johnson (J&J) Innovative Medicine has decided to halt the development of its epilepsy drug, three months after a Phase II trial with the drug failed to meet its endpoints.
The therapy was developed in partnership with Addex Therapeutics, which was quick to add that its collaboration with J&J is still ongoing as the companies analyse data from the placebo-controlled Phase II trial (NCT04836559). The drug failed to achieve statistical significance for the primary endpoint of time for patients to reach baseline seizure count.
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Addex’s stock has not recovered from the 53.3% nosedive it took after the Phase II results were released on 29 April. The company’s stock is now trading at $8.06 on the Nasdaq, down 49.9% from what it was worth before the news of Phase II results was announced.
ADX71149 is a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) of metabotropic glutamate receptor-2 (mGlu2 receptor), which plays a key role in seizure initiation and spread. The drug was developed as part of a partnership with J&J signed in 2004.
J&J has observed a decline in sales in Q2, with a 12.8% drop in net earnings to $4.6bn from $5.3bn earned in the same quarter of the previous year. Neuroscience is a key segment for J&J, generating $1.8bn in revenue last year, per the company’s financials.
The company’s depression treatment Spravato (esketamine) generated $206m in sales last year. The therapy’s sales are predicted to soar to $2.3bn in 2030, as per GlobalData analysis. The increase in sales is expected to be propelled by the label expansion of Spravato, as J&J is looking to increase its indications for use.
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Another neuroscience candidate in J&J’s pipeline is seltorexant. The human orexin-2 receptor agonist proved successful as an adjunct treatment for major depressive disorder and met all the primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase III trial. GlobalData expects seltorexant to pull in $610m in sales by 2030.
Addex’s pipeline consists of allosteric modulator assets such as dipraglurant and a GABA-B PAM candidate for the treatment of chronic cough. The company plans to start a Phase II trial evaluating dipraglurant, a metabotropic glutamate subtype 5 (mGlu5) negative allosteric modulator, for post-stroke sensorimotor recovery this year.
In April, Addex spun out a new company, Neurosterix, to develop its preclinical neurological assets. In exchange for the drug candidates and technology, Addex received SFr5m ($5.5m) and a 20% equity in Neurosterix.
