Pharmacopeia Reports Positive Data
biz.yahoo.com
NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Pharmacopeia Inc. fell Wednesday despite the drug developer reporting positive results from an early-stage study of its drug candidate to treat high blood pressure and diabetic kidney disease.
No safety or tolerability issues were observed with any of the doses under evaluation of PS433540, the company's lead internal product candidate. As a result, the company said the study will be expanded to include a 1,000-milligram dose.
The bigger-dose study designed to evaluate 14 days of daily dosing in healthy volunteers has already completed evaluation of 50-, 100-, 250- and 500-milligram doses of PS433540. The company said it expects to report findings from the 1,000 milligram dose later this year.
Following the news, Canaccord Adams analyst Joseph Pantginis reiterated a "Buy" rating in a note to clients.
But after the stock traded sharply lower, he speculated in an interview that although the initial results from the Phase I study were positive, the drug is still in very early stages and might not be sufficient to boost shares.
In addition, he said investors could be awaiting more data from the 1,000 milligram dose.
Last month, Pharmacopeia said Schering-Plough Corp. suspended development of a clinical compound for a metabolic disease. The collaboration with Schering-Plough is one of five Pharmacopeia partnered programs in clinical development.
Shares of Pharmacopeia fell 18 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $5.46 in afternoon trading, on below-average volume. |
