Cardiome falls on oral vernakalant delay

Shares of Cardiome Pharma Corp. (TSX:COM; NASDAQ:CRME) fell on Wednesday after the company said partner Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) will delay the start of Phase III testing for oral vernakalant to prevent recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF). Phase III testing had been expected to start this summer. Cardiome will provide updated guidance once Merck has finalized the clinical development plan for the mixed ion channel antagonist. Cardiome did not provide a reason for the delay beyond saying Merck "continues to work toward optimizing" the plan. Merck would not disclose further details. Cardiome was off C$1.14 (12%) to C$8.05 on Wednesday. On NASDAQ, the stock fell $1.17 (13%) to $7.73. ...