XenoPort plunges despite positive trial results for psoriasis drug candidate

15 September 2015

US drug developer XenoPort (Nasdaq: XNPT) had a roller-coaster morning after it announced positive preliminary top-line results from its Phase II clinical trial of XP23829 as a potential treatment for moderate-to-severe chronic plaque-type psoriasis.

In pre-market trading, the stock gained 6.2% to $7.15, but by mid-morning it had plunged 23.4% to $5.16, on investor doubts that XP23829 is differentiated enough from existing psoriasis drugs, including Celgene’s (Nasdaq: CELG) Otezla (apremilast), which gained US regulatory approval a year ago (The Pharma Letter September 24, 2014), and a recent report that an increasing number of rheumatologists view Otezla as a first-line treatment option for psoriatic arthritis before popular anti-TNF treatments such as Humira (adalimumab) from AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Remicade (infliximab) from Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ; TPL September 9, 2015).

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