Pimavanserin ( Acadia/Biovail) success in Phase III trial for treatment of psychosis in Parkinsons Disease

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced successful top-line results from its pivotal Phase III trial evaluating the efficacy, tolerability and safety of pimavanserin in patients with Parkinson�s Disease Psychosis (PDP).

The pivotal Phase III trial, referred to as the -020 Study, was a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability and safety of pimavanserin as a treatment for patients with PDP. A total of 199 patients were enrolled in the study and randomized on a one-to-one basis to receive either 40 mg of pimavanserin or placebo once-daily for six weeks, following a two-week screening period including brief psycho-social therapy. Patients also received stable doses of their existing anti-Parkinson�s therapy throughout the study.

Pimavanserin met the primary endpoint in the Phase III trial by demonstrating highly significant antipsychotic efficacy as measured using the 9-item SAPS-PD scale (p=0.001). Pimavanserin also met the key secondary endpoint for motoric tolerability as measured using Parts II and III of the Unified Parkinson�s Disease Rating Scale, or UPDRS. These results were further supported by a highly significant improvement in the secondary efficacy measure, the Clinical Global Impression Improvement, or CGI-I, scale (p=0.001). In addition, clinical benefits were observed in all exploratory efficacy measures with significant improvements in nighttime sleep, daytime wakefulness and caregiver burden. Consistent with previous studies, pimavanserin was safe and well tolerated in this Phase III trial. The drug will be marketed by Biovail/Valeant in the USA.