Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR) and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACAD) have something in common: a selloff in their shares. That is where the similarity ends. Acadia is down 22% in the month while Acordia fell 33%. But Acordia may not recover.
Acordia fell by nearly one-third on November 15 when the company stopped enrollment of its tozadenant drug study. The Phase 3 program, studying a drug for treating Parkinson’s, puts into question the viability of tozadenant.
Five subjects died in the study while seven had a case of sepsis.
Acordia bought Biotie Therapeutics for $363 million in January 2016.
Investors should exercise caution with ACOR stock.
Acadia fell after it reported earnings of $35.6 million, or a loss of $0.53 a share. Its outlook is positive. The company raised its 2017 annual net sales guidance to between $124 million and $127 million. This implies Acadia will report earnings of around $45 million next quarter.
Prior to the earnings report, Acadia reported final results of its Phase 2 trial assessing NUPLAZID. The drug failed to separate from placebo numbers. Still, patients at week 12 showed improvement but the elevated response from subjects taking placebo skewed the statistical results.
Takeaway
Acadia is still a promising company with its Nuplazid drug.
