BioXcel Stock Crashes 27% As Bid To Double Its Market Appears Less Certain
The company is hoping to double its market opportunity. However, it's less certain that they'll be able to achieve this goal.
Stocks of BTAI plummeted on Thursday after BioXcel's (BTAI) Igalmi failed to meet the expectations in patients who were agitated due to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Igalmi has already been approved for this usage. BioXcel hopes to get approval for Igalmi use at home. A health care professional administers the pill under-the tongue and watches for any potential loss of consciousness.
Igalmi was given to patients two hours later. 52% showed improvement in a scale measuring poor impulse control, tension and hostility. Comparatively, 36% placebo recipients showed improvement on the same scale. The results were not statistically significant.
In today's afternoon trading on the stock exchange, BTAI shares plunged 26.7% to 19.
BTAI stock drops below 50-day line
Serenity, a study of Igalmi in two parts. BioXcel released the results of its first part on Friday. The study included patients who were monitored in a medical setting. BioXcel anticipates that these patients will be more agitated than the patients who are at home for the second phase of the study.
BioXcel believes the results will be sufficient to proceed with the home portion of the test. MarketSmith.com reports that BTAI's stock fell below its 50-day average.
In a written statement, Chief Executive Vimal Mhta stated that he was pleased with the progress and outcome of the Land-and-Expand strategy. He believes it will help us address up to 23 million additional agitation episodes per year in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients at home.
He said that if Igalmi were to be approved for home use, the market potential could double.
BioXcel claims that Igalmi was superior to the placebo even though the results were not statistically significant. This occurred as soon as an hour after treatment. Igalmi was still more effective than the placebo four hours after treatment.
BTAI has a Relative strength Rating of 97. This puts it in the top 3% when it comes 12 month performance.