Acorda ends Parkinson's drug development due to trial deaths

21 November 2017

New York-listed Acorda Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ACOR) has formally ended development of tozadenant for Parkinson's disease, days after the company’s Phase III trial program was effectively halted due to worrying safety data.

Acorda saw its share price fall more than a third last week after it reported seven cases of agranulocytosis, a condition in which white blood cells are destroyed, which were thought to be drug-related.

Seven cases of sepsis in patients taking tozadenant resulted in five deaths. While the company had planned to increase screening, it now says it can’t be confident that will be enough to ensure patient safety.

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