Epix anxiety drug fails in late-stage trial

Shares of Epix Pharmaceuticals slipped after the developer announced that a late stage trial of its experimental long-acting drug for general anxiety disorder failed to achieve a statistically significant response compared to a placebo. PRX-00023 was tested in a Phase III trial that enrolled 310 patients. "Based on these top-line results, we plan to refocus our efforts away from anxiety to evaluate the benefit in depression more closely and assess opportunities for initiating a Phase II clinical trial in depression sooner than originally planned," said Chief Executive Dr. Michael G. Kauffman, in a statement.

- check out the AFX article for more on the trial