Asarina shares jump on sepranolone promise for Tourette syndrome

Shares in Sweden’s Asarina Pharma (STO: ASAP) looked set to close more than 2% higher, having rocketed as much as 30%, based on results from its Phase IIa study of the endogenous neurosteroid sepranolone for the treatment of Tourette syndrome.

The primary objective of the 28-patient study was to investigate the efficacy of sepranolone, compared to standard of care, to reduce tic severity in patients with Tourette syndrome at 12 weeks, using the change from baseline in Yale global tic severity scale (YGTSS) total score.

"Encouraging evidence of a safer, more tolerable treatment for patients suffering from Tourette syndrome"It was found that sepranolone reduced the YGTSS score by 8.6 points, or 28.%. This was compared to a 3.9 point or 12.6% reduction in control group patients who received only standard of care.