NEW YORK (AP) Shares of Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. more than doubled to their highest price in more than three years Tuesday after the company said its drug pimavanserin reduced psychosis in patients with Parkinson's disease. Acadia said pimavanserin was more effective than a placebo in treating the condition. Patients who took the drug also slept better at night, were more awake during the day, and were less of a burden to caregivers. Acadia shares gained $3.40 to $5.70 in morning trading. Earlier the stock peaked at $6.54, its highest price since August 2009. The shares closed at $2.30 on Monday. In the late-stage trial, 199 patients took either 40 milligrams of pimavanserin or a placebo once a day for six weeks. The most common side effects of pimavanserin in the study were urinary tract infections and falling. Acadia says up to 60 percent of Americans with Parkinson's disease develop psychosis and there is no approved therapy to treat the condition. The company said anti-psychotic drugs are sometimes used to treat the condition, but those drugs can increase the risk of death as well as side effects like the loss of motor control. Acadia said pimavanserin did not affect patients' motor … Continue reading →

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Amarantus BioSciences, Inc. (AMBS), a biotechnology company developing new disease-modifying treatments and diagnostics for Parkinson's disease and Traumatic Brain Injury centered on its proprietary anti-apoptosis therapeutic protein MANF, today announced that the Company has successfully completed experiments demonstrating that MANF has an excellent diffusion profile in the striatum of rat brains. The striatum is located in the brain, and is partially responsible for proper movement as part of the basal ganglia network. The striatum becomes severely compromised in Parkinson's disease due to neurite retraction from dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra. The data generated in this study show that when compared to GDNF, a neurotrophic factor currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial for Parkinson's disease, MANF had a significantly higher volume of distribution when delivered to the striatum. These results are part of on-going animal studies to determine the best localization of delivering MANF to the brain in Parkinson's disease human clinical studies. "The data obtained in this study provide strong evidence that volume distribution from the site of delivery in the brain is unlikely to be an impediment to MANF's clinical progress," said John W. Commissiong, PhD, Chief Scientist at Amarantus. … Continue reading →

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD) more than doubled in the shares biggest one-day increase ever after the companys experimental treatment helped Parkinsons disease patients with psychosis in a study. Acadia rose to $5.43 at the close of New York trading, its largest jump since the stock began trading in May 2004. The shares have quadrupled in the past 12 months. The drug, pimavanserin, met the primary goal of reducing psychotic symptoms in the late-stage study, the San Diego-based company said today in a statement. The most common side effects were urinary tract infections and falls, Acadia said. Psychosis, which can include hallucinations and delusions, is common in patients with the advanced stages of Parkinsons disease and there are no approved treatments for the condition, Acadia said. Pimavanserin is Acadias most advanced treatment in testing and would be the companys first product on the market if approved. To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net See the original post: Acadia Surges as Parkinson’s Treatment Shows Benefit … Continue reading →