Epix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:EPIX) soared 33% in the days following its announcement of initial promising results in a clinical trial for its Alzheimer's drug. This is an extraordinary rise for such a small and preliminary Phase IIa trial, which has so far lasted just two weeks. The company still must undertake Phase IIb and Phase III trials before the drug can reach market.
Yesterday, the company claimed "compelling results" in the two-week trial. It added that the results showed better and faster improvement on the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) than leading drugs now on the market, which have $4 billion in sales.
The share apparently soared so high because Alzheimer's disease is a huge market with no effective current treatments, and even a small improvement might generate billions of dollars in sales.
IBI Investment House analyst Noa Weissberg said. "Existing treatments do not significantly delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, but only allow a reasonable lifestyle for longer, and there is a problem of tolerance to the drugs. Therefore, the market is seeking any additional solution."
Epix share fell over 3% by midday trading today.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 20, 2007
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