Lundbeck, Solvay drop late-stage schizophrenia drug

Shares of Lundbeck slid after the Danish pharmaceutical group and Solvay announced that they were sounding the death knell on a late-stage drug program for schizophrenia.

Researchers for the developers said that the interim Phase III data for bifeprunox turned out to be a disappointment. Lundbeck told Reuters that the data was promising but not strong enough to win an approval. The developers had tried and failed earlier to make a case for the drug as a treatment for acute schizophrenia. They then took a shot at proving the drug could work as a maintenance drug for the mental condition.

This appears to be the last act for bifeprunox, with no further research work being planned on it. The FDA had already turned its thumbs down on Bifeprunox. And Wyeth dropped out of its collaboration with Solvay back in early 2008.

- read the Reuters story

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