Suven Life hits life high after positive result for its depression drug

The study aimed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Ropanicant in patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Suven Lifesciences shares surged as much as 8 per cent and logged an all time high of Rs 169 per share on Wednesday's trading session. The buying interest in the stock came after the company announced positive topline results from its Phase-2a trials aimed at assessing the safety and efficacy of Ropanicant, a drug developed to treat acute depression.

However, it pared gains at around 12:50 PM and traded flat with a positive bias at Rs 156.6 per share. In comparison, the BSE Sensex traded 203.45 points higher at 83,283.11, around the same time.

The company, in an exchange filing, said it has achieved "Positive topline results from its Phase-2a proof-of-concept signal detection open label fixed-dose study assessing the safety and efficacy of Ropanicant for the treatment of moderate to severe Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)."

Ropanicant is a novel, potent, and selective α4β2 nAChR antagonist, and is being developed for the treatment of MDD.

The study aimed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Ropanicant in patients with MDD, and to assess the change from baseline in the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score at week two.

As per the company's exchange filing, there were no significant differences in the safety profile across different doses and regimens. Also, treatment with Ropanicant resulted in mean improvement from the baseline in MADRS total score of 5.9 to 13.4 points on Day 7, and 10.4 to 12.7 points on Day 14 across different doses. 

The baseline MADRS score of patients entering the study was 32.1, representing moderate to severe depression.

“These findings from the Phase-2 study mark a significant milestone in our efforts to address the unmet medical need in treating moderate to severe Major Depressive Disorder patients. We are deeply grateful to the patients and investigators for their contributions,” said Venkat Jasti, Chairman and MD of Suven Life Sciences.

Meanwhile, topline data from this clinical study will be presented at the Neuroscience-2024 (Society for Neuroscience annual meeting) to be held in Chicago, USA from October 5 to 9, 2024, the company added.

The study was conducted across 10 sites in the US by recruiting 41 patients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, (DSM-5) criteria for MDD without psychotic features, and a diagnosis confirmed by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI).

In the past one year, Suven Life Sciences shares have gained 110.5, compared to the BSE Sensex's rise of 23 per cent during the same period.