Aelis Farma: cautious on the downside, phase 2b study failure

(CercleFinance.com) - Aelis Farma shares remained cautious on the Paris Bourse on Wednesday morning, following the failure of a Phase 2b study in patients suffering from cannabis use disorders.


The biopharmaceutical company reports that its drug candidate AEF0117 failed to meet its primary and secondary endpoints, which were to measure the proportion of participants who reduced their consumption.

The primary endpoint sought to determine the proportion of participants who reduced their cannabis consumption to no more than one day per week, while the secondary endpoints measured the proportion of participants achieving complete abstinence or reducing cannabis consumption to no more than two days.

On all these points, the trial showed no significant differences between AEF0117 and placebo, says Aelis in a press release.

This failure is likely to be heavily punished by the market", warned analysts at Invest Securities this morning.

The teams at Oddo BHF also stated that they expected "strong pressure" on the share price of the brain disease specialist, leading them to review their "outperform" recommendation and their target of 25 euros.

A new phase 2b trial with a larger population and possibly higher dosage will certainly have to be carried out before a phase 3 trial can be envisaged", says the research department in a note.

In the meantime, the Anglo-American pharmaceutical company Indivior - which considers these results "disappointing" - has stated its intention not to exercise its option on AEF0117 until it has seen further analyses of the clinical data.

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