Acorda Rises 9.7 Percent After FDA Gives Nod for Parkinson's Therapy

(Bloomberg) -- Acorda Therapeutics Inc. rose the most since October after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its therapy for Parkinson’s disease.

The drug, which will be sold under the name Inbrija, is an inhaled version of levodopa, an existing therapy that treats the effects of the neurodegenerative disorder. Acorda declined to say how it plans to price the product, and an outside spokesman said Acorda was still in conversations with insurers and the price would be made public next year.

The shares were up 3.9 percent to $13.45 at 9:33 a.m. in New York, after earlier gaining as much as 9.7 percent.

The approval is a much-needed piece of good news for the Ardsley, New York-based drugmaker.

Last year, the FDA refused to review the company’s application for the drug, issuing a “refusal to file letter” that said it hadn’t provided enough information about its manufacturing process. Acorda has suffered a series of other setbacks including losing a court ruling that allowed generic competition of its main drug and announcing that five patients died during one of its clinical studies. It’s lost about a third of its market value during that period.

“Even with Acorda’s challenges over the past year, we’ve retained the vast majority of our teams,” said Ron Cohen, Acorda’s chief executive officer, on a call with analysts. “The approval of Inbrija marks a major milestone for Acorda and the Parkinson’s community.”

Cohen said the company expects peak annual sales of the therapy to exceed $800 million, in line with what analysts have projected. Acorda had revenue of about $600 million last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Spalding in Boston at rspalding@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net

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