Disappointment for AstraZeneca and Targacept as antidepressant fails to meet Ph III endpoint

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) and Targacept (Nasdaq: TRGT) yesterday reported disappointing results of the investigational antidepressant TC-5214, causing a 3.2% fall to £28.73 in the shares of the London-headquartered firm and a 60% plunge to $7.61 for Targacept by close of trading.

Although TC-5214 was expected to bring only modest revenues to AstraZeneca, the drug was also viewed as a part replacement for the drugmaker’s antipsychotic drug Seroquel (quetiapine), which loses some patent protection in the USA next March.

Top-line results from the first of four RENAISSANCE Phase III studies investigating the efficacy and tolerability of TC-5214 as an adjunct therapy to an antidepressant in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond adequately to initial antidepressant treatment did not meet its primary endpoint of change on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) after eight weeks of treatment with TC-5214 as compared to placebo.