Akcea Therapeutics Inc. reported that COMPASS, the first phase III study of volanesorsen, met its primary endpoint, with patients who received the drug (n=75) achieving a statistically significant (p<0.0001) mean reduction in triglycerides of 71.2 percent from baseline following 13 weeks of treatment compared with a mean reduction of 0.9 percent in placebo-treated patients (n=38).