Acadia Provides Update On Phase III Program With Pimavanserin For PDP

Acadia Pharmaceuticals has provided an update on its phase III program with pimavanserin for Parkinson’s disease psychosis (PDP). The trial is being conducted in collaboration with Biovail Laboratories, a subsidiary of Biovail Corporation.

Acadia and Biovail have established a development strategy that they believe will strengthen the PDP program. The companies also intend to pursue adjunctive therapy with pimavanserin for schizophrenia as a third indication in the collaboration.

Pimavanserin is a 5-HT2A receptor inverse agonist in phase III development as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease psychosis.

Alzheimer’s disease psychosis (ADP) remains the second indication provided for in the collaboration. The companies currently intend to focus their efforts on the PDP and schizophrenia programs.

Acadia intends to implement cost-saving measures to further streamline its operations, reduce its internal operating expenses, and provide added financial flexibility. It currently anticipates that its cash, investment securities and payments from its collaborations before taking any cost-saving measures will be sufficient to fund its operations into the first half of 2011, and that these measures will further extend the company’s cash runway.

Bill Wells, CEO of Biovail’s, said: “We remain enthusiastic about pimavanserin’s prospects in a number of specialty CNS indications, including schizophrenia where existing data for the molecule as co-therapy are compelling. The steps we’re taking today are designed to fully exploit pimavanserin’s potential and to bring this novel therapeutic to market as quickly as possible.”

Uli Hacksell, CEO of Acadia, said: “Together, Acadia and Biovail are pursuing a development strategy that strengthens our path forward in PDP while opening up potential opportunities for pimavanserin to address unmet medical needs of patients suffering from other psychiatric and neurological disorders, including schizophrenia and ADP.”