UPDATE 1-Merck KGaA, Newron plan more trials of Parkinson drug
(Adds details, share prices)
FRANKFURT, Aug 22 (Reuters) - German Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) and partner Newron (NWRN.S) plan further tests on their safinamide drug for Parkinson's disease with a lower dose after a late trial showed a higher dose lacked any significant effect.
The 18-month trial pooled data from patients taking both the 50-100 mg and 150-200 mg doses who had had the disease for less than five years.
"The primary endpoint, time to intervention, did not reach statistical significance when data from both safinamide dose groups were pooled," the companies said in a statement.
Shares in Merck were down 0.5 percent at 91.02 euros at 0920 GMT, compared with a 0.3 percent rise in the DAX .GDAXI index. Newron shares fell almost 2 percent to 67.90 Swiss francs.
But the firms said their analysis showed that a lower dose of safinamide alongside dopamine led to improvements and reduced the need to make changes to treatment regimes.
"These 18-month data suggest that, at a dose of 50-100 mg once daily, safinamide may delay the time to intervention for therapeutic adjustment and provide sustained improvement of Parkinson's disease symptoms when added to dopamine agonist therapy," said study investigator Anthony Schapira.
"Additional Phase III studies are planned to further assess the efficacy of this dose of safinamide," he added in the statement on Wednesday.
Credit Suisse analysts see $400 million in potential peak sales for safinamide in use against Parkinson's.
((Reporting by James Regan and Mantik Kusjanto; james.regan@reuters.com, Reuters Messaging: james.regan.reuters.com@reuters.net, +49 69 7565 1263)) Keywords: MERCK/
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