Orexigen's stock price slipped on news that results from a Phase III trial of its anti-obesity drug Contrave weren't as positive as originally reported. The company had said that 56.3 percent of patients taking Contrave lost 5 percent or more of their body weight, but that number was actually 50.5. Additionally, only 28.3 percent of users lost more than 10 percent of their weight, down from 32.9 percent. The incorrect numbers were the result of a clerical error. Orexigen was quick to point out that the study still met its primary endpoint.
Contrave is a sustained-release version of two existing drugs--the antidepressant Wellbutrin and alcoholism treatment naltrexone. Orexigen filed an NDA for the drug on March 31. The company is in a race with two other developers--Arena Pharmaceuticals and Vivus--to gain approval of a new therapy for largely-untapped obesity market.
- read the Reuters report for more