Dive Brief:
- Biogen reported that a drug it's developing, Anti-Lingo-1, meant to provide a potential neuroreparative therapy in people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, failed to meet its primary endpoint in a Phase 2 study.
- Shares of the company's stock fell more than 8 percent in pre-market trading on Tuesday, down to $264 apiece, according to Xconomy.
- Despite the results of the test, Biogen claims that it observed evidence of the drug's clinical effect, though it failed to improve physical function, cognitive function, or disability in MS patients, or slow the spread of the disease.
Dive Insight:
With the leadership of CEO George Scangos, Biogen has been involved with several higher-risk endeavors to tackle difficult to treat diseases. The company has been working on ways to not only treat the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, but also reverse the underlying nerve damage the disease causes. No drug has been able to achieve this effect, and the company's nerve repair drug, Anti-Lingo-1, proved to be no exception.
Chief medical officer Alfred Sandrock said in a statement that Biogen will continue to analyze the results of the study in order to find a good path forward, according to Biogen's news release.
"Achieving repair of the human central nervous system through remyelination would be a substantial achievement, and while we missed the primary endpoint, the SYNERGY study results suggest evidence of a clinical effect of opicinumab," said Sandrock. "Due to the complex nature of the data set, we continue to analyze the results to inform the design of our next study.”
However, RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee wrote in a research note, that are are no "obvious signs of confidence yet,” because Biogen didn't necessarily indicate that opicinumab would move into Phase 3 trials, Xconomy reports.