UPDATE 2-Lundbeck, Solvay end research on schizophrenia drug

* Phase III tests on Bifeprunox halted

* Efficacy data did not support further studies

* Lundbeck shares fall in higher Danish market

(Adds comments from Solvay and background)

COPENHAGEN, July 30 (Reuters) - Danish pharmaceuticals group Lundbeck (LUN.CO) and Belgium's Solvay (SOLB.BR) halted development of an experimental schizophrenia drug after receiving disappointing data from a clinical trial.

The two firms stopped Phase III clinical tests for Bifeprunox in Europe after evaluating results from an interim analysis, Lundbeck said on Thursday.

Lundbeck spokesman Mads Kronborg told Reuters the drug showed promise but not enough to pursue marketing approval.

Bifeprunox had been abandoned earlier as a candidate for acute treatment of schizophrenia, but was being studied as a possible maintenance treatment for the mental condition.

Kronborg said Lundbeck had no further plans for the drug.

Solvay developed the drug and paid most of the research and development costs related to it while Lundbeck had the European marketing rights. "Our investments in the Phase III trials have been modest," Kronborg said.

Handelsbanken analyst Michael Novod told Reuters that although the drug was not crucial to Lundbeck, the news could knock as much as 5 percent off the share price.

Solvay said the interim results of the Phase III studies indicated that regulatory approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) would be unlikely.

"Consequently, development activities in the United States, which were on hold, have also been stopped," Solvay said. The drug had previously been rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In February 2008 the American pharmaceutical group Wyeth WYE.N decided to end its collaboration with Solvay on Bifeprunox as Wyeth did not see sufficient commercial value in the product.

A Solvay spokesman said the amount it spent on the drug in the first half of 2009 was "not material".

At 1230 GMT, Lundbeck shares traded down 2.4 percent at 102 crowns, underperforming the Danish blue chip index .OMXC20, which rose 2 percent.

Solvay shares traded up 1.4 percent in Brussels after reporting better-than-expected second quarter earnings.

(Reporting by Karin Jensen and Teis Jensen; additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Aaron Gray-Block; editing by John Stonestreet)