Smith & Nephew shares fall as HP802-247 living cell spray-on...

Smith & Nephew shares fall as HP802-247 living cell spray-on therapy fails to meet primary endpoint 14-10-2014 COMMENTS (0)Antibiotics and Infectious diseasesBiotechnologyHP802-247ResearchSmith & NephewUK 0 0 0 0 Global medical technology business Smith & Nephew (LSE: SN) has found its Phase III study of HP802-247, a living cell spray-on therapy to heal venomous leg ulcers, did not meet its primary endpoint. The therapy, which is designed to work with the body’s own cells, did not give a statistically significant improvement in healing over placebo in the randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled study in North America. Smith & Nephew gained rights to the compound with its $782 million acquisition of Healthpoint in 2012. A second Phase III study in the European Union will continue while the program analysis is completed and is expected to report in 2016. Olivier Bohuon, chief executive of Smith & Nephew, said: “A thorough assessment is underway to determine why the preliminary results of the first Phase III study are inconsistent with the strongly positive Phase IIa/IIb results. While this is an unexpected and disappointing development with this one product, we remain excited by the prospects for advanced wound bioactives as unique treatments for unmet patient needs.” Shares in the company fell 1.5% to 976.5 pence upon the reporting of these disappointing results.