SPARC shares fall 18% as drug candidate is discontinued

The shares of Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) fell over 18 per cent on Wednesday, on BSE, on the announcement that it was discontinuing a drug candidate, following two drug trials not meeting their endpoints.

SPARC is the research arm of Sun Pharmaceutical. The two companies, on Tuesday evening, said they were discontinuing the two trials on drug candidate SCD-044 for moderate to severe psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, as they had not met the primary endpoints. A company official confirmed this effectively meant, the drug candidate was being discontinued.

At 12.26 pm on Wednesday, SPARC shares were at down -18.25 per cent at ₹159.90.

SPARC said, “its partner Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (SPIL) announced the top-line results from the Phase 2 clinical trials evaluating Vibozilimod (SCD-044) for the treatment of moderate–to-severe Psoriasis (SOLARES PsO) and Atopic Dermatitis (SOLARES AD).”

Further it said, “SPIL informed that both SOLARES PsO and SOLARES AD studies did not meet the primary endpoint of 75 per cent improvement in PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) score (> PASI75) at Week 16 and 75 percent improvement in EASI (Eczema Area and Severity Index) score (>EASI75) at Week 16 respectively.”

SPARC and SPIL added, they “will evaluate the appropriate next steps for SCD-044.”

Sun Pharma has a pipeline of innovative products and its specialty products segment has been assuming a greater role in its operations.

In its last post-results analyst call, Dilip Shanghvi, the company’s Chairman and Managing Director had indicated to a strategic reassessment of its  clinical pipeline and a change in strategy in terms of seeking a partner for the commercialisation of its prospective product MMII, indicated for pain in osteoarthritis, among other things.  

For the financial year ended March 31, 2025, Sun Pharma’s global specialty sales were up 17.1 percent to reach $1,216 million. The last quarter ended March 31, 2025, its global specialty sales were up 8.6 percent, at $295 million.

Published on June 4, 2025