Acorda Therapeutics falls following downgrade

A Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst thinks shares of Acorda Therapeutics will stay around their current prices until early next year, when the company asks regulators to approve its multiple sclerosis drug Fampridine-SR.

David Amsellem downgraded the shares, which are trading around all-time highs, to "Market Perform" from "Outperform." Acorda Therapeutics Inc. plans to submit an approval application for Fampridine-SR with the Food and Drug Administration in the first quarter of 2009.

He said the company won't have much news to report until that time.

Shares lost $1.54, or 4.8 percent, to $30.31 in morning trading.

The Hawthorne, N.Y., company's shares rocketed 31.3 percent on June 2 after Acorda reported successful results from a late-stage trial of Fampridine-SR. Amsellem holds a price target of $32 per share.

Amsellem thinks sales of Fampridine-SR could reach $500 million in the U.S.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Acorda spokesman Jeff Macdonald said the company is not currently conducting any other late-stage trials, or any other trials of Fampridine-SR in multiple sclerosis.