Vernalis loses Parkinson compound

20.07.10 London - Vernalis and its US-partner Biogen Idec have halted the development of a drug for Parkinson's disease. Vipadenant, a novel adenosine A2A receptor antagonist and one of the main pipeline hopes of the British pharmaceutical company is being replaced by a backup compound, which will enter Phase I in 2011. A2A-anatagonists are believed to help restore motor function in Parkinson's patients without side effects such as nausea and uncontrolled movement seen with current treatments. The news is the second pipeline setback for Vernalis in recent months, following the failure of another experimental medicine known as V3381 for diabetes-related neuropathic pain in March. The news sent the share price down, temporarily dropping 12%.
Vernalis and Biogen will continue their collaboration as planned. Ian Garland, CEO of Vernalis commented, “We are, of course, disappointed that development of vipadenant will be discontinued but are encouraged that Biogen Idec is to develop Vernalis’ next generation compound as a potential novel treatment for this neurodegenerative disease.” Biogen will continue to fund all development costs under the collaboration and Vernalis said it can earn milestones and royalties on the successful development of the next-generation compound.