New treatment opportunities on the way for ADHD? AstraZeneca commits to further development of nicotinic agonist AZD3480

Good news today for Targacept with the announcement that AstraZeneca is continuing to support the development of nicotinic agonist, AZD3480 (TC-1734) for ADHD (see DailyUpdates). This is particularly welcome for Targacept not only because it comes with a milestone payment of $10 million but also because AZD3480 has previously failed two Phase 2b studies (Sirocco for Alzheimers disease; and HALO for CIAS). The fate of AZD3480 has been looking up since May when it was announced that it had met its primary end-point in a Phase 2a ADHD study (see UpdatesPlus, May 2009). The degree of improvement was reportedly similar to that expected with a stimulant but the adverse event profile was unremarkable. Of interest we have previously suggested that AstraZeneca may be evaluating the possibility of using AZD3480 as an add on to its antidepressant, Seroquel. Also significant is the announcement that AstraZeneca will continue development of AZD1446 (TC-6683) for Alzheimer’s disease. AZD3480 had shown some activity against secondary end-points in Sirocco but it looks like it will remain a back-up for Alzheimers disease with AZD1446 becoming the lead for this indication. Read more about the implications of today's news as well as all other significant activity in the nicotinics field in the July issue of UpdatesPlus due out in the next few weeks. To reserve your copy at a 10% discount contact us now