BioWorld International Correspondent

Danish biopharmaceutical firm NeuroSearch A/S last week said it suspended development of the sickle-cell anemia drug candidate NS3728 following analysis of Phase I trial data and a re-evaluation of the likely costs of pursuing the full program.

NeuroSearch’s share price, which is quoted on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, fell 19 percent to DKK121 on the news.

The main problem, NeuroSearch CEO Jorgen Buus Lassen told BioWorld International, stems from the fact that the company learned that it would not be able to administer NS3728 to children without extensively documenting its use in adults first. “We had expected we could go more rapidly into children but apparently this is not the case,” he said.

Moreover, Buus Lassen said, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co., of New York, has received clearance to start clinical trials in children of its sickle-cell anemia treatment, Droxia (hydroxyurea). Up to now, it had been indicated for treatment of adults only. Droxia can be accompanied by severe side effects. “It has a very different mechanism from our drug,” Buus Lassen said.

NS3728 is one of a number of compounds Ballerup-based NeuroSearch has discovered that block chloride channels in the cell membrane of red blood cells, leading to a significant reduction in dehydration of cells containing the abnormal hemoglobin associated with the condition and thus a reduction in the formation of the characteristic sickle-shaped cells.

It is the second compound NeuroSearch has pulled from clinical development in successive months. The company and its partner, GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, discontinued development of the candidate depression treatment NS2389, which had been in Phase II trials, in early March. (See BioWorld International, March 13, 2002.)

The company has just three compounds in the clinic, down from six at the year’s close. The candidate anxiety treatment NS2710, the subject of a development and licensing agreement with Grupo Ferrer Internacional SA, of Barcelona, Spain, has also been withdrawn from Phase II trials.

NS2330 is undergoing Phase II trials for both Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and NS2359 is in Phase II trials for cocaine addiction. NS1209 is in Phase I studies for treatment of brain damage following stroke.