Novartis drops PhII Parkinson's program

Novartis has discontinued development of the investigative compound AFQ056 to treat the jerky motions and tics that are a side-effect of treatment with levodopa in patients with Parkinson's disease. The firm had been planning to file its first regulatory approval submissions in this indication in 2015. However, the product failed to show efficacy in Parkinson's disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID) in recent Phase II studies.