Welcome to your weekly digest of approaching regulatory and clinical readouts. In the coming months phase III data are expected from Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) antidepressant esketamine, an analogue of ketamine whose selling point could be its nasal administration; however, hallucinatory side effects could put a damper on its commercial prospects.
Also offering an alternative route is NeuroDerm's (NASDAQ:NDRM) high-dose levodopa/carbidopa, ND0612H. This is continuously delivered via a belt pump for advanced Parkinson’s disease patients, and will generate phase II data in the first quarter. Its US path to market might have become less risky since the FDA agreed to pharmacokinetic studies in place of phase III trials.
