Sept 15 (Reuters) – Contineum Therapeutics said on Monday an experimental depression drug it developed with Johnson & Johnson failed to meet the main goal of a mid-stage study.
Here are the details:
• The trial was testing the drug, JNJ-5120 or PIPE-307, in patients with major depressive disorder, or MDD.
• The trial measured improvements on a standard depression rating scale at day five compared with a placebo, but the drug did not achieve the required efficacy endpoint.
• Shares of Contineum fell nearly 8% in after-hours trading.
• The treatment is being developed by healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson under a global licensing agreement. J&J is continuing to review the broader data from the study to decide the next steps for the medicine.
• The company said the treatment was well-tolerated and showed no new safety signals.
• The drug targets a brain receptor called M1 and was designed to work quickly, within days, unlike many antidepressants that can take weeks to show an effect.
• In 2025, a study testing the same compound, PIPE-307, in multiple sclerosis patients also failed to show a benefit.
• MDD affects more than 21 million adults in the U.S. each year, making it one of the most common mental health conditions in the country.
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
