Only 64% now Jim. You really blew it. :-) Perhaps, Biovails stubborn avoidance of reality affected your estimate...
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UPDATE 1-INTERVIEW-Biovail not giving up on Parkinson's drug
Thomson Reuters
* Biovail sees other uses for Pimavanserin
* Analyst says company should walk away from Acadia deal
* Biovail shares drop 2.9 percent
(Adds company and analyst's comments)
TORONTO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Biovail Corp's
chief executive said on Tuesday that there are alternative uses for its Parkinson's disease treatment Pimavanserin despite disappointing Phase 3 test results.
Pimavanserin, which Biovail is co-developing with Acadia Pharmaceuticals , failed to significantly cut psychotic episodes associated with Parkinson's, such as hallucinations and delusions, compared with a placebo in a late stage trial.
"This is still a very interesting compound and there are
other alternatives in addition to the one which this trial was oriented toward and so there are a number of other things that Pimavanserin could be interesting for," Biovail CEO Bill Wells, told Reuters in an interview. "The game is not over by a long shot."
Wells said the drug, which is still undergoing another
Phase 3 trial for Parkinson's psychosis, could also be considered for ailments such as Alzheimer's psychosis.
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the
central nervous system that often impairs motor skills and speech.
Wells said the company would meet with Acadia "in the next couple of weeks" to discuss the next step for the treatment.
Biovail shares were down 2.9 percent at C$13.58 on the
Toronto Stock Exchange, but nowhere close to the 68 percent plunge in Acadia's shares on Nasdaq.
The poor results for Pimavanserin, which some analysts
termed "a high risk" investment for Biovail, prompted speculation on whether Biovail, Canada's biggest publicly traded drugmaker, would walk away from the deal it inked with Acadia earlier this year.
Biovail paid $30 million upfront to Acadia and could make additional milestone payments including one of up to $160 million if Pimavanserin gets to market.
"I don't think there is any justification for going forward...to me it's black and white," said Claude Camire, an analyst at Paradigm Capital.
"Since there is so much money involved I don't know why you would invest lots of money in doing the clinical trials and paying all those milestones for something that may be marginal to patients. You want something that is going to be a winner."
Last year, Biovail announced a shift in its focus toward central nervous system treatments and away from controlled-release products.
Since then it has made a string of acquisitions and
licensing deals, including a deal last week with Swiss biotech company Santhera to cooperate on a drug to treat dyskinesia, or movement disorder, in Parkinson's disease.
Camire said the Pimavanserin setback would force Biovail to look at more acquisition targets.
"There are a lot of companies looking for partners and
given the fact that there are fewer large companies the threshold for them is much bigger," Camire said. "Therefore Biovail is one of the few companies that can partner with these specialty pharma (companies) that have developed those promising drugs." |
