Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. is an American

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

company based in Pearl River, New York. The company develops therapies that improve neurological function in people with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders. Acorda Therapeutics manufactures and markets the drugs Inbrija ( levodopa inhalation powder) and Ampyra (dalfampridine) in the United States.

Products

*Ampyra ( dalfampridine) *Inbrija ( levodopa inhalation powder) Inbrija is administered by inhalation and is indicated for the intermittent treatment of off episodes in patients with Parkinson's disease currently taking

carbidopa/levodopa Carbidopa/levodopa, also known as levocarb and co-careldopa, is the combination of the two medications carbidopa and levodopa. It is primarily used to manage the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but it does not slow down the disease or stop it ...

. Inbrija is approved by the FDA and the EU.

Development pipeline

* BTT1023 (timolumab) for

primary sclerosing cholangitis Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a long-term progressive disease of the liver and gallbladder characterized by inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts, which normally allow bile to drain from the gallbladder. Affected individuals may ha ...

(phase II) *CVT-427 ( zolmitriptan) for the acute treatment of migraine (phase I) *rHIgM22, a remyelinating antibody for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (phase I)

ARCUS Technology

In September 2014, the company acquired Civitas Therapeutics for , gaining the Phase III Parkinson's drug, CVT-301, the migraine drug CVT-427 and rights to the ARCUS pulmonary delivery system. Th ARCUS technology allows for the administration of drugs by inhalation. The FDA-approved drug Inbrija (levodopa inhalation powder) and the clinical-stage drug CVT-427 (zolmitriptan) currently use the ARCUS technology for drug delivery.

History and business model

Acorda Therapeutics was incorporated in 1995, founded by internist turned entrepreneur Ron Cohen in Hawthorne, New York.
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Cohen had previously worked at the tissue engineering firm Advanced Tissue Sciences from 1986 to 1992. Cohen's focus on neurology at Acorda was influenced by his father's being a

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

Columbia University Medical Center NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes C ...

. The

business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, soci ...

of the company from the start was to work on commercialization of academic discoveries. A single therapeutic area focus also has the advantage that physicians prescribing one drug might also prescribe another in Acorda's portfolio; for instance, the company planned to leverage physician access through tizanidine capsule sales to promote dalfampridine sales. An

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

(IPO) in 2006 raised , about half of what was expected going into the offering, which was attributed to general weakness of the IPO market at the time. These funds were supplemented by a private sale of shares later the same year, raising and additional . As of 2007, twelve years after incorporation, the company had not yet turned a profit. From 2019 to 2021 the company's earnings per share (EPS) increased by 4.5% every year. In 2021, the company's revenue was down by 13 percent.

Dalfampridine

The Canadian Spinal Research Organization held the patent for this drug in 2002 when the organization engaged Acorda to conduct a Phase III trial for treatment of

spasticity Spasticity () is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance with a combination of paralysis, increased tendon reflex activity, and hypertonia. It is also colloquially referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, or "pull" of muscles ...

in patients with chronic

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cor ...

. This was Acorda's flagship product and development of subsequent drug candidates was initially predicated on realized revenue from this drug's sales. In November 2016, the company announced it was discontinuing development of the drug for post- stroke walking difficulties, after a clinical trial failure. In the third quarter of 2019, the company's shares dropped by a significant 65.1% as a result of dalfampridine's multiple sclerosis indication facing competition in the United States.

Inbrija

In December 2018, the company announced the FDA approval of Inbrija (levodopa inhalation powder) for patients with Parkinson's disease. In January 2021, Acorda sold its manufacturing operations for Inbrija to

Catalent Catalent, Inc. (Catalent Pharma Solutions) is a multinational corporation headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. It is a global provider of delivery technologies, development, drug manufacturing, biologics, gene therapies and consumer health p ...

for $70 million to reduce the company's operating expenses.

Tizanidine

The company licensed

tizanidine Tizanidine, sold under the brand name Zanaflex among others, is a medication that is used to treat muscle spasticity due to spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis as well as spastic cerebral palsy. Effectiveness appears similar to baclofen ...

(Zanaflex) from

Élan Elan Corporation plc was a major drugs firm based in Dublin, Ireland, which had major interests in the United States. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ELN, the Irish Stock Exchange as ELN.I, and the London Stock Exchange as ELN. ...

in the early 2000s to help meeting cash flow goals. Acorda sells both capsule and tablet forms of this drug, with emphasis on the capsule form as this has patent protection through 2021, while the tablet form has many generic competitors.

Tozadenant

In January 2016, the company acquired Finnish pharmaceutical company, Biotie Therapies, for . This gave the company control over Biote's

drug, BTT1023 and the oral

adenosine A2A receptor The adenosine A2A receptor, also known as ADORA2A, is an adenosine receptor, and also denotes the human gene encoding it. Structure This protein is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family which possess seven transmembrane alph ...

antagonist tozadenant. In November 2017, the company announced discontinuation of research and development of the Phase III

drug tozadenant. This followed the death of 5 patients enrolled in the tozadenant Phase III trial from agranulocytosis and associated severe adverse events possibly related to tozadenant.

Corporate governance

, the members of the board of directors of Acorda Therapeutics were: Ron Cohen, Barry Greene, Peder K. Jensen, John P. Kelley, Sandra Panem, Lorin J. Randall, Steven M. Rauscher, and Catherine D. Strader. , the members of the senior management team were: Ron Cohen M.D. (Founder,

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

), Burkhard Blank ( chief medical officer), Andrew R. Blight ( chief scientific officer emeritus), Denise Duca (executive vice president, human resources), Andrew A. Hidman (chief business officer), David Lawrence (chief, business operations and principal accounting officer), Lauren Sabella (chief commercial officer), Tierney Saccavino (executive vice president, corporate communications) and Jane Wasman (president, international and

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

). , founder, president and CEO Cohen would be about 63 years old. Andrew Blight was the CSO in 2007 and be about 68 years old, an emeritus in this role. As of 2007, David Lawrence was the chief financial officer and Mary Fisher the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

. Jane Wasman, about 62 in 2019, has held the general counsel role at the company since at least 2007.

References

External links

*
Acorda Therapeutics Inc.
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Acorda Therapeutics Inc.

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{{Authority control Companies listed on the Nasdaq Biotechnology companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Biotechnology companies established in 1995 Companies based in Westchester County, New York Life sciences industry 1995 establishments in New York (state) Health care companies based in New York (state)