Positive results are rare in psychiatric drug development. So when MapLight Therapeutics revealed earlier this week that one of its experimental medicines had succeeded in a schizophrenia study, company leadership hoped investors would find the data as exciting as they did.
Instead, the Boston-area biotechnology firm lost two-thirds of its market value. Shareholders appeared concerned that, at a high level, MapLight’s medicine didn’t appear as potent as a rival pill from Bristol Myers Squibb.
“I was surprised at their reaction; that’s an understatement,” said MapLight CEO Christopher Kroeger.
Specifically, the “ZEPHYR” study found patients taking a twice-daily dose of MapLight’s drug for five weeks experienced an average improvement of 4.5 points on “PANSS,” a well-known scoring system for schizophrenia symptoms. That figure is lower than the 8.4-point and 9.6-point reductions seen in the key experiments that led to the approval of Bristol Myers’ Cobenfy.
Analysts see that comparison as too simplistic, and argue the fresh data suggest MapLight’s drug may be viable not only as a treatment for schizophrenia, but other conditions like the psychosis that often accompanies Alzheimer’s disease. MapLight “has a case for an important drug,” wrote Paul Matteis, from the investment bank Stifel, in a note to clients.
