The insidious nature of Alzheimer’s disease means that any company that can make strides toward beating it is a market winner. However, when those strides turn south, it’s a different story. Pharmaceutical company Synaptogenix (NASDAQ:SNPX) ran into that exact problem after revealing its Phase 2 trial results on an Alzheimer’s treatment. The stock price fell by about 75% in today’s trading session, so you can likely guess how it went.
Synaptogenix’s Bryostatin-1 did not have a good run in its Phase 2 testing. The company reported that the National Institute of Health study designed to test the drug resulted in complete failure. Improvement in patients was regarded as “not statistically significant,” as Bryostatin-1 yielded just 1.4 points in test scoring. By way of reference, a placebo managed to yield 0.6 points. The results will likely prove familiar for long-term investors; reports noted that Bryostatin also disappointed in two studies back in July 2021.
For a while, Bryostatin-1 looked like it might be a winner. The drug—part of the protein kinase C agonist group—managed to improve “cognitive restorative and antidepressant effects.” Bryostatin-1 was a tumor growth preventative drug that looked like it might have some impact. The latest study, however, seems to repudiate that notion. CEO Alan Tuchman, M.D., noted that the company was “disappointed” in the results yet planned to “conduct a full review” before offering up any update.
The decline was sufficient to send the company down to a new 52-week low.
