Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Alcobra (NASDAQ: ADHD), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies to treat neurological disorders, jumped as much as 16% after reporting positive phase 2b results for MG01Cl for the treatment of adults with predominantly inattentive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or PI-ADHD. Shares have since given back much of their gains and are now up just around 4% as of this writing.
So what: According to the press release, Alcobra enrolled 36 patients with PI-ADHD into three treatment arms -- a single 1,400 mg dose of MG01Cl, a 700 mg dose of MG01Cl, and a placebo -- and then measured the change from baseline according to the TOVA ADHD score. Based on the results, which focused on an intent-to-treat basis, the 1,400 mg dose demonstrated a statistically significant change in baseline while also delivering a statistically significant change in baseline in reaction time variability. Alcobra notes that MG01Cl was well-tolerated in both study arms.
Now what: This is, without question, good news for Alcobra, but I have to admit that many forms of ADHD are frankly difficult to treat because the disease can be tough to diagnose. Alcobra is also a newly public company that's doubled in a matter of months, but has no recurring revenue or approved FDA products at the moment. With that being said, I'm not discounting MG01Cl's clearly positive results today, but I would suggest it may be prudent to keep to the sidelines until we have more late-stage clarity on this drug in a significantly larger patient subset, and until we get a clearer picture on Alcobra's cash position and ongoing cash burn rate.
