Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Sorrento Valley, San Diego, California.
Product development
Nuplazid, a drug developed by Acadia in the late 1990s, "was designed to stimulate a subset of the brain’s serotonin receptors, or the proteins that govern memory, cognition and learning." On April 29, 2016, the FDA approved Acadia's drug, Nuplazid, for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis. Nuplazid is the trade name for Acadia's proprietary molecule, pimavanserin, a selective serotonin inverse agonist preferentially targeting 5-HT2a receptors. Acadia had partnered with Biovail in the late-stage clinical testing of the drug, which showed trial failures as of 2009.
Acadia is running multiple Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials with pimavanserin in several central nervous system conditions: dementia-related psychosis,major depressive disorder,schizophrenia inadequate response, and schizophrenia negative symptoms.
As of 1997, Acadia was among several companies that licensed compounds from Genzyme's small-molecule compound library.
In 2023, the FDA approved trofinetide (marketed as Daybue) for use in Rett syndrome.