CONNECT-FX study of Zygel fails to meet endpoints in Fragile X syndrome.- Zynerba Pharma

Zynerba Pharmaceuticals announced top line results from the 14-week pivotal CONNECT-FX study of Zygel (cannabidiol) which assessed its efficacy and safety as a treatment in for behavioral symptoms of Fragile X syndrome (FXS) in 212 patients. Zygel did not achieve statistical significance versus placebo in the primary endpoint of improvement in the Social Avoidance subscale of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist – Community FXS (ABC-CFXS). Zygel also did not demonstrate statistical significance versus placebo in the three key secondary endpoints, which were the change from baseline to the end of the treatment period in the Irritability subscale score of the ABC-CFXS, the Socially Unresponsive/Lethargic subscale score of the ABC-CFXS and Improvement in Clinical Global Impression (CGI-I). A pre-planned ad hoc analysis of the most severely impacted patients in the trial, as defined by patients having at least 90% methylation (“full methylation”) of the impacted FMR1 gene, demonstrated that patients receiving Zygel achieved statistical significance in the primary endpoint of improvement at 12 weeks of treatment in the Social Avoidance subscale of the ABC-CFXS compared to placebo (p=0.020). This group comprised 80% of the patients enrolled in the CONNECT-FX study. The Company believes that full methylation occurs in approximately 60% of the overall FXS patient population. Based on this analysis, Zynerba intends to meet with the FDA regarding a regulatory path forward for Zygel.Zygel was very well tolerated in CONNECT-FX, and the safety profile was consistent with previously released data from other Zygel clinical trials. No safety signal was identified. Approximately half (54%) of the 211 patients included in the safety population experienced a treatment emergent adverse event (any event, whether unrelated or related to study drug), all of which were mild or moderate. The frequency of treatment emergent adverse events was similar across treatment groups (58% of patients on Zygel, 50% of patients on placebo). There were no serious or severe adverse events reported during the study. There were seven total psychiatric disorder TEAEs, five of which were in the placebo group.