Minerva Neurosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NERV) shares soared as much as 40% and hit a new high of $10 after the company announced that the resultsMonday from a Primomed non-human primate study, which showed that treatment with an analog of MIN-301, the company's investigational neuregulin-1 compound, has resulted in improvements in a range of symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease in primates.

Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of a portfolio of product candidates to treat central nervous system diseases. MIN-301 is a recombinant form of the neuregulin-1²1 extracellular domain. The analog used in the Primomed study differs from MIN-301 by a single amino acid.

Dr. Rémy Luthringer, Ph.D., president and CEO of Minerva, has stated that they believe that MIN-301 and its analog are functionally identical and that the data will provide further support for advancing MIN-301 into clinical trials for the treatment of Parkinson's disease in humans. He further stated that they also believe MIN-301 and other peptides from their neuregulin platform may represent the next generation of therapies with neuroprotective activities in Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Subjects treated with a daily subcutaneous injection of the MIN-301 analog showed greater improvements in Parkinsonian clinical score, AIMS and loco-motor activity compared to injection of saline. The strongest improvements in the analog-treated population were obtained during periods of slower disease progression. Previous research in rodent models of Parkinson's disease has shown that MIN-301 has the potential to restore motor function. Results from the Primomed study involving an analog of MIN-301 were consistent with these previous results. In previous research both MIN-301 and its analog have been found to have the same level of activity in vitro in phosphorylation of ErBB3 receptors. Neuregulins play key roles in myelination, neuronal integrity and cognition-related signalling. Neuregulin-1 has been shown to have neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects on dopaminergic neurons.