29th Sep 2026 15:38
(Alliance News) - Solvonis Therapeutics PLC on Tuesday celebrated new analyses from the phase 2 KARE trial of its severe alcohol use disorder treatment SVN-001, which it said showed "a genuine structural difference" compared to other drugs.
Solvonis shares were down 0.6% at 0.11 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London, but the stock had jumped 6.5% near the market open.
The London-based biopharmaceutical company, which is focused on central nervous system disorders, said that compared with naltrexone, pemvidutide and semaglutide, SVN-001's results exceeded the other therapies' reductions in heavy drinking days for patients.
Solvonis said SVN-001 patients had 67% fewer heavy drinking days at follow-up weeks 17 to 20 than placebo patients, these weeks being more than four months after the last SVN-001 infusions. This is "a statistically significant result on [the European Medicines Agency's] primary AUD endpoint," it added.
In comparison, naltrexone showed a 25% reduction in its own trial, pemvidutide showed a 35% reduction, and semaglutide showed a 46% reduction.
"These are separate trials in different populations, so the comparison is indirect and doesn't establish comparative efficacy - but the dosing contrast is a genuine structural difference: SVN-001's results held after a short, defined 4-week course, against Vivitrol's monthly injections and GLP-1 therapies' ongoing weekly dosing," Solvonis said.
The company also said a second analysis found that ketamine treatment was associated with significant reductions in craving and rumination at three months. It said this adds to a previous finding that "SVN-001 increases patients' ability to feel pleasure - the same psychological pathways already established in ketamine's use for depression."
"Patients with a family history of AUD showed a stronger response on both measures, a hypothesis-generating signal the ongoing MORE-KARE Phase 3 trial is designed to test directly," Solvonis added. Recruitment is in progress for the 280-participant UK MORE-KARE phase 3 trial, it said.
"Together, these analyses are the evidence base for European expansion and SVN-002, Solvonis' esketamine oral thin-film, is advancing toward US phase 2 following a pre-IND (investigational new drug) meeting with the [Food & Drug Administration]," the company continued.
Chief Scientific Officer David Knutt commented: "It's one thing to show a treatment works. It's another to understand why, and to know how it compares.
"These analyses give us all three - and the family-history finding starts to tell us who might benefit most, which is exactly what phase 3 is designed to test."
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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