Why Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NBIX) Shares Imploded

Although we don’t believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes — just in case they’re material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing neurological and endocrine-related therapies, dove as much as 32% after reporting disappointing mid-stage results for its VMAT2 inhibitor, NBI-98854, for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia, a disease characterized by abnormal and involuntary muscle movements.

So what: According to Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX), its 50mg dose did not reach the statistical significance as outlined in the primary endpoint by week six while its higher dose of 100mg did show a statistically significant reduction in tardive dyskinesia symptoms as of week 2 based on the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale. The expectation from Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) was that its 100mg dose would be a maximum-tolerated dosing of the drug, but discovered it was actually well-tolerated. Moving forward, Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) plans to run an additional phase 2 study utilizing a 100mg dose and an even higher dosage.

Now what: Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that it appears the surprisingly high dose of NBI-98854 works in reducing tardive dyskinesia symptoms. The bad news is that Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) has been thrown for a dosing loop, having expected the 50mg dose to outperform, and must now spend extra time and money to run another phase 2 trial to determine what the proper dosing should be. This isn’t a crushing blow for Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX), but it’s a setback that shareholders clearly weren’t willing to endure today.

The article Why Neurocrine Biosciences Shares Imploded originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned, either.

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