By Denny Jacob

Relmada Therapeutics lost more than two-thirds of its market value early Wednesday after the biotechnology company said a treatment for major depressive disorder would likely fail to meet its primary goal in a trial it deemed futile.

Shares of Relmada dropped 77% to 64 cents in premarket trading. The stock already was down by about a third since the start of the year, as of Tuesday's close.

The Coral Gables, Fla., company said an interim analysis by an independent data monitoring committee found the treatment was unlikely to meet the primary endpoint with statistical significance in a Phase 3 study.

The treatment, REL-1017, was being evaluated as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder to be used in combination with other approved anti-depressants.

Relmada said no new safety signals were reported.

"Based on these results, Relmada will evaluate the full dataset to determine next steps for the REL-1017 program," Chief Executive Sergio Traversa said.

Relmada said it will focus on the development of a treatment for metabolic disease, REL-P11, adding the company was well-capitalized with about $54.1 million in cash and cash equivalents as of Sept. 30.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 04, 2024 08:40 ET (13:40 GMT)

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