End of the road for Retrophin's fosmetpantotenate as it fails in patients with PKAN?

23 August 2019

There was bad news for Retrophin (Nasdaq: RTRX) yesterday relating to its lead pipeline candidate fosmetpantotenate, sending the Shkreli-founded biotech’s shares plummeting as much as 32% to $11.84, and leading to speculation that the company is ripe for takeover.

Retrophin announced that the Phase III FORT Study evaluating the safety and efficacy of fosmetpantotenate compared to placebo in patients with pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) did not meet its primary endpoint and did not demonstrate a difference between treatment groups. The study also did not meet its secondary endpoint. Fosmetpantotenate was observed to be generally safe and well-tolerated in the study.

This latest setback for Retrophin comes after the company settled all outstanding disputes with founder and former disgraced chief executive Martin Shkreli, who was ousted in 2014 and later convicted for conspiring to manipulate Retrophin’s stock price, and currently serving a seven-year prison sentence. The stock closed down 22.017% at $13.56.

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