Cara Therapeutics Posts Strong Phase 2 Results

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 4:14PM EST · Published Dec 10, 11:15AM EST

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Cara Therapeutics Posts Strong Phase 2 Results — © Thinkstock

Cara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CARA) saw its stock rise in Wednesday’s session on statistically significant Phase 2 results, but the delight of investors may be short lived.

So far this year the stock is up over 55%, and with these strong results Cara is one of the better performing health care stocks in 2015.

The company announced positive top-line results from a Phase 2a trial of an oral tablet formulation of its peripherally selective kappa opioid agonist, CR845, in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee or hip.

Despite this Phase 2 study being designed to confirm safety and tolerability and PK parameters, it actually obtained significant converging finding of dose-related effectiveness as well.
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All four tablet strengths were observed to be safe and well tolerated. At the same time, The dose-related reduction seen in mean baseline pain score was up to 34% after two weeks, with a statistically significant reduction in mean rescue medication for the 5 mg dose.

The effectiveness of the 5 mg dose was further supported by dose-related increases in the proportion of patients whose OA was “very much improved” or “much improved” as indicated by patient global assessment.

Derek Chalmers, Ph.D., D.Sc., president and CEO of Cara Therapeutics, said:

These results are an important first step in establishing the applicability of an oral formulation of CR845 in treating chronic pain patients and expand the potential clinical utility of CR845 beyond our lead I.V. CR845 program in acute pain. Based on these encouraging findings, we plan to conduct a larger double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial in 2016.

Joseph Stauffer, D.O., MBA, chief medical officer, added:

The successful completion of this osteoarthritis trial is a key milestone on the path to establishing the potential clinical utility of our oral CR845 formulation in the treatment of chronic inflammatory pain, for which NSAIDs and traditional mu opioids are frequently inadequate or unsafe.

Shares of Cara closed Wednesday up 5.4% at $16.00. However in Thursday’s session shares backed off about 3% to $15.53. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $28.86 and a 52-week trading range of $9.00 to $23.61.
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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.