By Elsa Ohlen

Bristol Myers Squibb stock fell after the drug developer announced data on its schizophrenia medicine that failed to meets its goal.

The drug, Cobenfy, didn't show a statistically significant improvement as an additional treatment for patients with schizophrenia over six weeks, the company said in a statement late Tuesday.

The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in September and highlighted as "the first new approach to schizophrenia treatment in decades."

Further analysis will follow, and the company will plan to speak with regulators about potential next steps, the company added.

Shares fell 5.9% to $47.50 in premarket trading Wednesday, even as S&P 500 futures gained 2.3% and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 1.7%.

However, there were underlying supportive trends, as noted in Bristol's press release. "Although Cobenfy did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement as an adjunctive treatment in this trial, the data are encouraging, showing a noteworthy improvement for the majority of patients in the trial, as well as a tolerable safety profile," said Husseini Manji, professor of psychiatry at Oxford University, quoted in the press release.

Cantor analyst Carter Gould doesn't think the fact that the improvement observed wasn't statistically significant matters much commercially given those underlying trends, especially as the drug was being used in the adjunctive setting anyway ahead of this data. Gould has a Neutral rating on the stock with a $55 price target.

The company is set to report first-quarter earnings Thursday.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com

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April 23, 2025 08:12 ET (12:12 GMT)

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