Dive Brief:
- Acadia Pharmaceuticals has canceled two investor's conferences in a row this month, raising major speculation that the company is preparing for a buyout.
- After the meetings were canceled, the stock rose 18% to 45.88 and has increased a total of 38% in the last year (it dropped a little in morning trading on Wednesday).
- Acadia develops central nervous system (CNS) drugs, with a focus on Parkinson's disease.
Dive Insight:
Part of what's driving speculation of a potential buy-out for Acadia is this San Diego-based company's development partnership with Allergan—which was recently acquired by Actavis for $66 billion. The development relationship focuses on pain and glaucoma drugs.
Acadia has been developing the small molecule pimavanserin for various indications, including schizophrenia, schizophrenia-related psychosis, Alzheimer's disease-related psychosis, and Parkinson's disease psychosis.
The indication for Parkinson's disease psychosis is furthest along in development, with Acadia in final preparation for NDA submission. Currently, Acadia's market capitalization is $3.9 billion.