RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (RSPI)

[neuroinv]

And ignoring contextual realities is intellectually lazy. All areas in all BPs have been fighting for position in a shrinking vessel: the two areas on the ascendant have been oncology and diabetes. Overall in 2009, CNS partnering proceeds were up--but it was because of large companies being willing to pay for later-stage programs, not those in earlier stage.

RD does not fall neatly into any major category, so it would already be handicapped. Midsize companies are just impacted, even if differently. To the degree to which they too look to Big Pharma for partnering, be it for development or marketing, that support has been in question. And the pain companies who might be considered the most likely midsize partners for RD have been impacted by a regulatory factor: The FDA clamping down on analgesic product approvals, demanding REMS plans in the face of the abuse epidemic. Which jeopardizes their revenue potential, which means they are less willing to invest money they aren't sure they'll have. In this kind of environment, from which no company is immune, there is at best a delay, at worst a contraction.

Even in Alzheimer's, your chosen example, there are companies with Phase II efficacy data that have not been able to obtain a partner over the last eighteen months.

NeuroInvestment