Acorda Dips 2%, Company Says It Will Discontinue Development Of Nasal Spray

Shares of Acorda Therapeutics Inc ACOR were trading lower by 2 percent early Friday, but have since recovered most of the losses. The brief selloff occurred in reaction to the company's announcement that it will discontinue development for its Nasal Spray called Plumiaz.

Plumiaz is an investigational therapy that was being used to study the treatment of seizure clusters in people with epilepsy. The company noted that the data it has received thus far from ongoing clinical trials suggests the nasal spray does not demonstration a biobioequivalence to Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX's Diastat AcuDial.

Specifically, Acordia's trial data showed unexpectedly lower nasal mucosa absorption of diazepam in persons with epilepsy compared to studies in healthy volunteers.

"We are very disappointed by this outcome, and for those in the epilepsy community who experience seizure clusters. I want to thank the many clinicians, caregivers, people with epilepsy and their families involved with the PLUMIAZ clinical studies for their efforts to advance care for people with seizure clusters," said Ron Cohen, M.D., Acorda's President and CEO. "We will continue to focus on development of our other high potential pipeline programs, including CVT-301 and tozadenant for Parkinson's disease, and dalfampridine for post-stroke walking difficulty."