Investors are waking up to Centessa’s sleepiness drug
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Early results from a small study have convinced Centessa Pharmaceuticals to “rapidly advance” an experimental drug it believes could be a useful treatment for diseases hallmarked by excessive sleepiness.
The study enrolled healthy volunteers who hadn’t gotten enough sleep for a short period of time. It then assessed three doses of Centessa’s drug, one of which was only evaluated for safety. According to Centessa, the two tested doses significantly increased the amount of time it took for participants to go from fully awake to asleep, compared to placebo.
The London-based biotechnology company now intends to start, before the end of the year, mid-stage studies that will evaluate its drug against the two main types of narcolepsy as well as an uncommon sleep disorder known as idiopathic hypersomnia.
The smaller study “set a high bar” for the drug, and the data generated thus far has “exceeded our expectations, giving us the confidence to accelerate the program into the next stage of clinical development earlier than anticipated,” said Saurabh Saha, Centessa’s CEO, in a statement.
Centessa’s share price was up 8% at market’s open Tuesday. It rose higher, to a gain of more than 15%, before sliding back down in late morning trading.
David Risinger, an analyst at the investment firm Leerink Partners, called the data “highly compelling” and the best so far from a new class of drugs aimed at sleepiness. The class targets “orexin” proteins, which regulate sleep and wakefulness, and has gotten buy-in from a growing list of developers that includes Takeda Pharmaceutical, Johnson & Johnson, Jazz Pharmaceutical and Alkermes.
Early this year, Takeda said it would quickly begin late-stage testing of its orexin drug after scoring positive results from a clinical trial focused on “Type 1” narcolepsy — a condition that, in addition to sleep problems, also involves a sudden loss of muscle control.
To Risinger, the data released Tuesday suggest that Centessa’s drug could ultimately be given as a 1 milligram, once-daily treatment, which would “compare favorably” to Takeda’s candidate. That drug has been evaluated at once- and twice-daily doses, up to 7 milligrams a day. Centessa’s results also imply that its drug is absorbed by the body faster than Takeda’s, according to Risinger.