Acadia rises on Nuplazid AD readout

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) gained $3.14 (12%) to $28.57 after it said Nuplazid pimavanserin met the primary endpoint of a Phase II exploratory study to treat Alzheimer's disease psychosis, but missed a secondary endpoint. The company said the results support further development in the indication, but did not provide details for its clinical plans. Nuplazid is already approved in the U.S. to treat Parkinson's disease psychosis (PDP).

In the new study, Acadia said Nuplazid-treated patients had a significant reduction in psychosis vs. placebo as measured by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home (NPI-NH) psychosis scale from baseline to week six (3.76 vs. 1.93; p=0.0451). Nuplazid did not significantly improve psychosis over placebo at 12 weeks. On a conference call, President and CEO Stephen Davis said Nuplazid led to numerical improvements vs. placebo at all time points, but placebo-treated patients showed a greater response at week 12 than at week six...