Johnson & Johnson has made the decision to discontinue its phase 3 VENTURA development program evaluating aticaprant as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) due to insufficient efficacy in the target patient population, the company shared in a brief press release.
While the specifics were not revealed, J&J said full analysis from the development program is underway and will be shared at a future medical meeting. According to J&J, the data confirmed aticaprant is safe and well-tolerated, and based on this, the company plans to explore future development opportunities for aticaprant in other areas of high unmet need.
Aticaprant is an oral small-molecule inhibitor of the kappa opioid receptor, which helps regulate reward, pain and mood processes in the brain.
The field has had high hopes for κ-opioid receptor (KOR) antagonists as antidepressants, hoping they could address anhedonia — the inability to feel pleasure. But J&J isn’t the only company to suffer recent setbacks with the drugs in MDD. Neumora Therapeutics just paused its studies after the company’s KOR candidate, navacaprant, failed to show efficacy in a phase 3 trial.