Acadia’s Prader-Willi miss gives Tonix a chance at the market

Despite Acadia’s Phase III miss last week, Tonix Pharmaceuticals remains confident that oxytocin receptor activation can address the intense hunger experienced by patients with Prader-Willi syndrome. The biotech announced Monday that it is planning a Phase II study of a candidate that could be differentiated from the Acadia program.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) said last week that its long-acting oxytocin analog, carbetocin (ACP-101), did not reduce hyperphagia (insatiable hunger) versus placebo in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) patients. The intranasal therapy missed both the primary endpoint, change from baseline to week 12 on the Hyperphagia Questionnaire for Clinical Trials (HQ-CT), and the study’s secondary endpoints...