Shares in Triangle-based Furiex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: FURX) fell 6 percent in trading Friday after the company disclosed failure of a drug candidate in a Phase II clinical trial.
At 10 a.m. Furex traded at $16.75, down $1.02.
Furiex announced the failure as well as a decision to not pursue further development of the candidate on Thursday after the markets closed.
The company is a spin-off from Wilmington-based PPD.
The drug candidate did not meet its primary efficacy point of relieving muscle pain in people with high cholesterol (statin-associated myalgia, or SAM) in the trial even though it did lower cholesterol.
“Given the results of this recent Phase II clinical trial, Furiex will not move forward with PPD-10558,” said Fred Eshelman, chairman of Furiex and founder of PPD, in a statement.
Furiex had licensed the compound from Ranbaxy Laboratories in 2007 and does owe that firm a $1 million milestone payment once a final report is issued on the Phase II study.
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