What happened
Shares of Neuroderm Ltd (NASDAQ: NDRM) a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing drug-device combinations, were up 23.3% as of 11:19 p.m. on Wednesday. Investors are cheering mid-stage trial results for its Parkinson's disease treatment candidate that uses continuous drug delivery technology.
So what
Levodopa, which is converted to dopamine in the brain, is the most commonly prescribed drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately, keeping it at an optimal level in the bloodstream isn't easy, and fluctuating responses to the treatment are a big problem. Co-administration of carbidopa helps, but Neuroderm intends to go a step further by using a device named ND0612 to inject a steady supply of the combination.
Image source: Getty Images.
Investors hoping the improved dosing would reduce the amount of "off-time," or periods when the medication is ineffective and Parkinson's symptoms worsen, can breathe a little easier today. In a 38-patient trial, those receiving a higher dose of the combo through ND0612 enjoyed a significant reduction of off-time, from 5.5 hours at baseline to just 2.7 hours.
Now what
Although the trial was pretty small, the observed reduction was strong enough to suggest Neuroderm's much-larger INDIGO trial has a strong chance of success. Investors will have to wait a bit longer for the data, though, as the company also announced it will restart the study.
After meeting with European regulators earlier this year, Neuroderm decided to amend the pivotal trial to support an application for treatment of a larger patient population. Investors can look forward to the data in 2018.
