NicOx shares slide following goldman sachs downgrade.

PARIS -- Shares in NicOx SA have fallen by more than one-quarter on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Paris since the announcement by Pfizer Inc. that it was discontinuing its glaucoma collaboration with the French company.

That announcement prompted Goldman Sachs to issue a sell recommendation on NicOx shares on Aug. 13, revising down its price expectation to just 3.20 [euro] (US$4.68).

NicOx shares have been trading at little more than 7 [euro] since then, whereas last September the price was approaching 20 [euro].

NicOx, of Sophia-Antipolis, has downplayed the failure of the glaucoma program, pointing out that its collaboration with New York-based Pfizer in the area of ophthalmology is continuing and that it is now focused on an ongoing program aimed at identifying nitric oxide-donating compounds for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.

While acknowledging that the Phase II trial of PF-03187207, an NO-donating prostaglandin analogue, conducted by Pfizer in Japan had not met its primary endpoint at day 28, NicOx nevertheless pointed out that it had achieved some positive results.

The trial was conducted on 112 Japanese patients suffering from primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension and was designed to compare the safety and efficacy of several doses of PF-03187207 in comparison with Xalatan (latanoprost).

In terms of the reduction in diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP), the two highest doses of PF-03187207 showed an improvement over Xalatan of up to 11 percent compared to baseline.