Targacept, Inc. Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript

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2009-11-05 16:58:07.0

Tags: Targacept Inc., Call Transcript, Earnings, Trial, Business Structures, Corporate Governance, Finance, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Seeking Alpha

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Terence Flynn with Lazard Capital Markets. Please proceed.

Terence Flynn – Lazard Capital Markets

Hi, thanks for taking the questions and congrats on all the progress. I joined the call a little late, so I was just wondering you might have touched on this already, but if you could possibly give us an update on ongoing partnership discussions for 5214 and how those are going?

Don deBethizy

Thanks, Terrence. As I indicated on the – in the call, we are actively involved in that, we are continuing to speak to multiple partners, and we are on track for our goal of having a partner in place before we start Phase III in the second quarter of 2010.

Terence Flynn – Lazard Capital Markets

Okay. And I guess have you given any guidance on terms of what a Phase III trial might cost in the event that you don’t want your partner decide that the terms aren’t as favorable?

Don deBethizy

No. We haven’t given any guidance around that, because we want to – we don’t want to talk about Phase III design and cost until we have had the end of Phase II meeting which we just reported today would be in early 2010.

Terence Flynn – Lazard Capital Markets

Okay, great. And then just one last question on 5619, can you provide us with how you are thinking about that CDS trial given what you’ve learnt with your past experience with 3480 and that setting and anything you might have learned that you are incorporating into this new Phase II?

Don deBethizy

Sure. The 3480 of course is an alpha4beta2 focused targeted compound. And we did the HALO trial with AstraZeneca in a 100% in smokers, so nicotine which has a preference for alpha4beta2 was on board in those patients.

In this trial, we are doing – it’s an alpha7 compound 5619, so we are targeting a different subtype. That subtype has been associated with familial schizophrenia. There has been some progress made by other alpha7 compounds in the clinic. So we feel like that this receptor mechanism should have better activity.

And then by looking at both smokers and non-smokers, we have the opportunity to differentiate whether nicotine being onboard has an effect. I might add that nicotine’s inherent activity at alpha7 is somewhat less than its activity at alpha4beta2. So, it will be interesting to see how 5619 performs in smokers as well as non-smokers.

 

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