Neumora’s antidepressant stumbles in first Phase 3 trial readout

A new depression treatment developed by startup Neumora Therapeutics failed in a Phase 3 clinical trial — the company’s first late-stage readout. 

The drug, navacaprant, failed to show a meaningful improvement in depression scores compared to placebo, the company reported Thursday. Both the treatment group and the placebo group reported a 12.5-point reduction in their scores. The drug also failed to show a statistically significant improvement on a scoring system measuring participants’ ability to experience pleasure, when compared to placebo.

This is the first of three Phase 3 studies that Neumora has planned for navacaprant.