Biogen and Sage to scrap neurological disorder drug development after trial failure

(Reuters) -Biogen and Sage Therapeutics do not plan to conduct further studies for their neurological disorder drug after it failed in a mid-stage trial, the drugmakers said on Wednesday.

Shares of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Sage Therapeutics slumped 27% in premarket trading.

The setback is the latest after Sage and partner Biogen's pill, Zurzuvae, could not secure the U.S. health regulator's nod for treating clinical depression, a much larger market, while it was approved as a treatment for postpartum depression.

The key question is whether Zurzuvae is enough to keep the Biogen partnership, said Mizuho analyst Uy Ear.

The companies' experimental neurological drug, SAGE-324, was being studied as a treatment for essential tremor, a disorder that causes uncontrollable shaking of the hands, arms and other body parts.

The trial, which enrolled 147 participants, was designed to study the dose-response relationship of different doses of SAGE-324 for upper limb tremor for a three-month treatment period.

The drug failed to show statistically significant change based on a rating scale that measured upper limb tremor.

There was also no significant differences demonstrated for any of the three doses of SAGE-324 versus placebo, on a scale which measures the severity of tremors and its impact on daily activities.

The companies said they were planning the next steps, if any, to study the drug in other potential conditions.

Sage had said in April it would stop working on its experimental drug for Parkinson's disease after the treatment failed a mid-stage study.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)