Alto Hits The Wrong Note In Depression

A Phase II failure with an old asset throws the company’s biomarker-driven strategy into doubt.

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The mid-stage misfire of Alto Neuroscience’s depression candidate ALTO-100 is not just bad – and predictable given that the asset had already failed in the disease – it also calls into question the company’s whole raison d’etre.

Key Takeaways
  • The Phase II trial of Alto Neuroscience’s brain-derived neurotrophic factor modulator ALTO-100 in major depression has failed, wiping 65% off the company’s value.
  • The molecule had already failed in a similar trial in 2017, when it was owned by Neuralstem

Alto has been attempting to use biomarkers to tailor its treatments to individual patients as a way to mitigate the heterogeneous presentation of neuropsychiatric disorders

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