REUTERS ARTICLE: Jazz Pharma's pain drug significantly reduces symptoms

Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:30am EDT

June 15 (Reuters) - Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc (JAZZ.O) said its experimental treatment for fibromyalgia significantly reduced pain compared to the dummy drug in a late-stage trial, sending shares of the company up as much as 37 percent.

The company said sodium oxybate, or JZP-6, showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in pain and the core symptoms associated with fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition and majority of patients are also affected by other symptoms like fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction and impaired physical function.

On June 10, shares of Jazz Pharma soared more than 200 percent, in anticipation of the drug's late-stage data, which was scheduled to be presented at the 2009 Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting.

In November, Jazz Pharma said the drug met the main goal of reducing pain and fatigue in the first of two late-stage trials.

Sodium oxybate is already being marketed under the brand name Xyrem in the United States as an oral solution for the treatment of narcolepsy, a condition marked by excessive daytime sleepiness, impaired vision and muscle weakness.

Shares of the company rose as much as 37 percent to $3.62 Monday in premarket trading. They closed at $2.64 Friday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Anuradha Ramanathan in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan)