Depressing drug result for Astra

An anti-depressant product made by Anglo-Swedish drugs titan AstraZeneca and US partner Targacept has failed to meet its initial target.

The product, known as as TC-5214, is intended to be used as an adjunct therapy to an anti-depressant in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), who do not respond adequately to initial antidepressant treatment.

The firm said that the study did not meet its primary target of change on the scale used to measure it after eight weeks of treatment with TC-5214 as compared to placebo.

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In a statement the firm said: "TC-5214 was overall well tolerated in the study and showed an adverse event profile generally consistent with the earlier Phase IIb study. Analyses of the full data set from the study remain ongoing.

"TC-5214 has the potential to be a first-in-class nicotinic channel modulator to serve as an adjunct treatment for MDD in patients with an inadequate response to initial antidepressant therapies."

The results most recently announced are from the Renaissance 3 study, a flexible dose trial conducted in Europe.

NR