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Circassia plummets after Phase III cat allergy failure

June 21, 2016 12:38 AM UTC

Circassia Pharmaceuticals plc (LSE:CIR) fell 179.30p (66%) to 91p and shed L510.8 million in market cap Monday after its Cat-SPIRE missed the primary endpoint in the Phase III CATALYST study to treat moderate to severe cat allergy. Cat-SPIRE, Circassia's lead program that uses its ToleroMune T cell epitope desensitization technology, failed to significantly reduce combined allergy symptoms and rescue medication use vs. placebo among 1,245 subjects living with cats.

Circassia said there was a "very marked placebo effect" on the study's primary endpoint, change from baseline to one year in the mean combined total rhinoconjunctivitis symptom score (TRSS) and rescue medication use score. Patients receiving one four-dose course of Cat-SPIRE had a 58.2% reduction in the combined score, while patients receiving two sequential four-dose courses had a 59.8% reduction. Patients receiving placebo had a 58.5% reduction. ...