In the trial, 181 patients received a single dose of one of three doses of TC-2696 or ibuprofen or placebo following third molar extraction surgery. TC-2696 did not meet the primary endpoints, superior pain relief four or six hours after dosing as compared to placebo.
TC-2696 was generally well tolerated in the trial, as there were no clinically meaningful differences in the incidence of adverse events between the TC-2696 dose groups and the placebo group and no unexpected or serious adverse events. These results suggest that TC-2696 is not a viable therapeutic candidate for acute post-operative pain.
Targacept is continuing to analyze the data from the trial and plans to consider next steps with regard to the development of TC-2696 in conjunction with GlaxoSmithKline, with which it entered into a strategic alliance focused in five therapeutic areas, including pain, earlier in 2007.