Praxis shares slump as committee says drug trial unlikely to meet main goal

Updates shares, adds background in paragraph 2 and 3

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Praxis Precision Medicines PRAX.O said an independent committee had recommended stopping a late-stage trial of an experimental drug for a movement disorder as it was unlikely to meet the main goal, sending its shares tumbling nearly 37%.

This marks another setback in the development of treatments for essential tremor, a condition that affects the nervous system and causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals' JAZZ.O tremor drug failed to reduce tremor severity in a mid-stage study in June.

Praxis' experimental drug, ulixacaltamide, is in late-stage development for the treatment of the condition.

Shares of the company fell 36.72% to $41.33 in early trading on Friday.

The Independent Data Monitoring Committee, which was overseeing the interim analysis of a part of the trial, said the study should be stopped for futility.

It indicated that some underlying assumptions of the statistical model might have influenced this outcome and encouraged Praxis to explore alternative analysis methods.

Praxis said it had decided to continue the trials to completion given the advanced stage of patient enrollment and the advice received from the committee.

The company will explore different analysis methods for the final dataset and expects to read out results in the third quarter of 2025.

The decision about whether the data supports the submission of a marketing application will be made after analyzing the final results, Praxis added.