Acadia’s Alzheimer’s psychosis drug misses primary goal but advances on secondary data

Acadia Pharmaceuticals reported that its investigational drug remlifanserin failed to meet the primary endpoint in the Phase 2 portion of the RADIANT trial for Alzheimer’s disease psychosis.

The trial measured reduction in hallucinations and delusions using an industry scale, and the 60‑mg dose produced a 12.6‑point drop versus a 10.4‑point drop for placebo, yielding a p‑value of 0.0603, just above the conventional 0.05 threshold.

Despite the miss, the company highlighted a statistically significant improvement on a secondary clinician‑rated severity scale and said the data are “Phase 3‑enabling,” indicating they will continue development for both Alzheimer’s disease psychosis and Lewy body dementia.

CEO Catherine Owen Adams emphasized the broader potential of the asset and indicated that the program will move forward into the Phase 3 portion of the trial.