Otsuka's Commitment to AVP-786

Otsuka a focused CNS company, and the producer of Abilify, purchased drug AVP-786 for $3.5 billion through their acquisition with Avanir on November 13, 2014.  To get a sense of just how committed the company is to AVP-786, we have to look at the clinical trials that have started since the acquisition, and compare that to the number of clinical trials the company has started with another Otsuka drug Brexpiprazole, deemed the second generation drug of Abilify, that would compete in the indications similar to AVP-786.

Clinical Trials Started Since Acquisition
(3)  Alzheimer's Agitation - U.S.        phase 3
(1)  Residual Schizophrenia                phase 2
(1)  Disinhibition                                   phase 2
(1)  Alzheimer's Agitation - Japan     phase 3

Ongoing Trials With AVP-786
(1)  Treatment Resistant Major Depression Disorder  phase 2

New Otsuka Clinical Trials with Brexpiprazole
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The company was previously in clinical trials prior to the acquisition of AVP-786, for Alzheimer's Agitation, MDD, and Schizophrenia as co- partner with Lundbeck.  But has not initiated anything new since agreeing to acquire AVP-786 from Avanir late 2014.  

Bottom Line:  Some significance into the timing of initiating clinical trials, may help us identify a companies priority in their clinical pipeline.  Thank you for reading.
 

AVP-786 for Treatment of Disinhibition

The number of clinical trials utilizing Avanir / Otsuka NMDA modulator drug AVP-786 is increasing with each quarter. The number now stands at six with the addition of the latest posting at Clinical Trials.gov that pertains to Disinhibition Syndrome here Treatment of Disinhibition. There is not a drug specifically approved for this indication, or Frontal Temporal Dementia (FTD) that I can find. The main inclusion into the trial is as follows.

• Documented diagnosis of a Neurodegenerative Disorder including frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DBL), vascular cognitive disorders, or Huntington's disease, at least 3 months prior to Baseline.

This is a very broad inclusion into this phase 2 clinical trial, with only 12 patients aged 50-90 being recruited.  In general the patient must have some sort of Neurodegenerative Disorder.

Bottom Line:  It's easy to see why Otsuka bought Avanir Pharmaceuticals for $3.5 billion in 2014. They see the potential for NMDA drug AVP-786, and it's use for many indications. Thank you for reading.