Neumora's early-stage schizophrenia drug study put on hold

London: Neumora Therapeutics said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had placed a clinical hold on early-stage study of its experimental schizophrenia drug, sending its shares down more than 23 per cent in premarket trading.

The FDA decided to place the study on hold after recently available pre-clinical data showed uncontrollable muscle contractions or convulsions in rabbits. The company has now paused the early-stage study.

About 30 participants had been dosed in the early-stage study with no evidence of convulsions observed in any participant, the company said.

Neumora is working with the FDA to resolve the clinical hold.

The company that is backed by Amgen and Japan's SoftBank debuted on the Nasdaq in September.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)