Axovant, which is headquartered in Bermuda and has offices in Basel and New York, focuses on the treatment of dementia. 11 patients participated in its phase 2 study to test the efficacy of nelotanserin in Lewy body dementia patients.
According to a company statement, there was a statistically significant improvement for patients taking nelotanserin relative to the placebo. Based on these promising results, the study will be completed in mid-2017, and Axovant is now planning to commence a phase 3 registration programme in the second half of 2017.
"We are pleased with the preliminary results of this small pilot study which supports our belief that nelotanserin could be a promising investigational drug candidate for patients suffering from Lewy body dementia," said Axovant chief development officer Lawrence Friedhoff.
Nelotanserin is designed to treat the motor symptoms and neuropsychiatric disturbances, such as visual hallucinations, that commonly occur in patients with Lewy body dementia. It was precisely with respect to treating motor disturbances, which are measured by the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating scale (UPDRS), that the current study showed significant improvements.
