Neuland Laboratories Ltd. witnessed a significant boost in its stock price today, surging 10% and trading at ₹15,107.00 as of 9:31 AM on the NSE. The stock’s upward momentum comes as rival AbbVie faced a setback with its schizophrenia drug, emraclidine, which failed to meet primary endpoints in two phase 2 trials. This failure has increased attention on alternative drug candidates in the neuroscience space, potentially benefiting companies like Neuland Laboratories.
AbbVie acquired Cerevel Therapeutics for $8.7 billion last year, banking on Cerevel’s promising approach of using M4-selective positive allosteric modulators for treating schizophrenia. This move followed successful phase 3 data from Karuna Therapeutics’ similar drug, KarXT, which attracted a $14 billion bid from Bristol Myers Squibb. However, unlike Karuna, AbbVie’s emraclidine did not achieve the anticipated improvements in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores, a critical measure of schizophrenia symptoms.
In the phase 2 trials, emraclidine failed to show statistically significant differences compared to placebo in improving PANSS scores. The placebo group in one trial even outperformed one of the emraclidine doses. This underperformance contrasts with Cerevel’s previous phase 1b trial, where the drug candidate had shown promise. The setback raises questions about AbbVie’s $8.7 billion investment and its due diligence on Cerevel.
This development has sparked investor interest in Neuland Laboratories, which could stand to benefit as the focus shifts to other pharmaceutical players working on innovative treatments in neuroscience. The company’s shares are riding high as a result, up nearly 10% in early trading.
