RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (RSPI)

[gfp927z]

The trial was unblinded Sept 7 and they issued the preliminary analysis press release just 5 days later (Sept 12) to coincide with the R+R investor presentation. But 5 days was obviously not enough time to do a proper analysis and double check the data, check and re-check for inconsistencies, etc.

Oh well. It does make the company look like 'F-Troop', but here's hoping that the change to the data will clarify the otherwise puzzling results -- ie why the higher doses weren't effective in the Acute RD cohort (REMI-1) when the low dose was, while the reverse was true in the Chronic RD cohort (REMI-2).

Hopefully the upcoming Dronabinol results will serve to salvage the company's prospects and their now tarnished image. To be fair though, the previous CX-717 RD trial from years back also ran into trouble ('procedural problems') that negated 2/3 of the data. Luckily for that trial the problem was discovered and corrected prior to dosing the high dose cohort, and the efficacy there was excellent, which salvaged the trial and was enough to demonstrate proof of concept for RD.

But this latest snafu only reinforces the perception that running respiratory trials is a tricky business.