Biohaven's Phase III troriluzole study for SCA misses

US neuroscience drug developer Biohaven Pharmaceutical’s (NYSE: BHVN) shares were barely changed yesterday, despite disclosing top-line results from a Phase III clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of its investigational therapy, troriluzole, in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), that did not reach statistical significance in the overall SCA population as there was less than expected disease progression over the course of the study.

In the overall study population (N=213), the troriluzole and placebo groups each had mean baseline scores of 4.9 on the f-SARA and the two groups showed minimal change at the 48-week endpoint with f-SARA scores of 5.1 and 5.2, respectively (p=0.76).

Biohaven has previously reported mixed top-line results from its proof-of-concept study of troriluzole in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and a Phase II/III trial in Alzheimer’s that missed its co-primary endpoints.