Lipocine Inc. (NASDAQ: LPCN) is watching its shares get cut in half in Wednesday’s session after receiving a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company announced that it has received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the FDA regarding its New Drug Application (NDA) for LPCN 1021.

For those that don’t know, a CRL is a communication from the FDA that informs companies that an application cannot be approved in its present form.

The CRL highlighted deficiencies related to the dosing algorithm for the label. In terms of the specifics, the proposed titration scheme for clinical practice was significantly different from the titration scheme used in the Phase 3 trial leading to discordance in titration decisions between the Phase 3 trial and real-world clinical practice.

LPCN 1021 is an oral testosterone product candidate for testosterone replacement therapy (“TRT”) in adult males for conditions associated with a deficiency or absence of endogenous testosterone, also known as hypogonadism.

Dr. Mahesh Patel, Chairman, President and CEO of Lipocine, commented:

We are evaluating the content of the CRL, including the FDA recommended actions to bring our NDA in a position for approval, and will work closely with the FDA to determine the appropriate next steps for the NDA.  We remain committed to bringing LPCN 1021 to patients who will benefit from its intended use. We continue to believe that LPCN 1021 has the potential to improve the ease of use compared to the available formulations, including topical gels and injections, and to overcome inadvertent testosterone transference risk to children and partners that exist with topical gels.

The company’s next step will be to request a meeting with the FDA to understand more fully the issues raised and to agree on a path forward to achieve approval of LPCN 1021.

Shares of Lipocine were last trading down 52% at $2.99, with a consensus analyst price target of $30.00 and a 52-week trading range of $2.51 to $19.23

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