May 21 (Reuters) – Biogen and Denali Therapeutics said on Thursday they will discontinue development of their Parkinson’s drug after it failed to meet the main goal in a mid-to-late stage study.
The drug, BIIB122, did not slow disease progression compared with placebo, missing the main goal of delaying worsening of symptoms measured by a combined score of movement and daily function. It also failed to show benefit on other key measures.
BIIB122 was tested in 648 patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease and, despite showing expected biological activity and an acceptable safety profile, did not demonstrate clinical benefit.
Denali will continue testing the experimental drug in patients with a specific genetic mutation linked to Parkinson’s.
Shares of Biogen fell more than 1% in after-hours trading.
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
