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ACADIA PHARMACEUTICALS INC at Biotechnology Industry Organization Investor Forum - Final.

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Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Our next presenting company is ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from San Diego. Presenting this afternoon is their Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Thomas Aasen. Thank you.

THOMAS AASEN, CFO, ACADIA PHARMACEUTICALS INC.: Thank you very much, and good afternoon. Before I get started, I need to inform you that I'll be making forward-looking statements today. They involve a number of risks and uncertainties. And I therefore encourage you to read our risk factors that we have filed with the SEC.

ACADIA is a CNS-focused R&D company with major growth potential. We are at a very exciting stage today. We have one Phase III program and several Phase II programs targeting some of the world's largest unmet medical needs. And we've retained commercial rights to four of these advanced programs.

And one unique thing is, all of the programs in ACADIA's pipeline results from discoveries made at the Company. This is a strength that really sets ACADIA apart from many other biotechnology companies. This is ACADIA's pipeline. In red, you can see our internal programs and in orange, our partnered programs.

And behind our four most advanced internal programs, we have an additional program in Phase II in collaboration with Allergan in the area of neuropathic pain. We also have a program in glaucoma in collaboration with Allergan that has moved into the clinic this summer. And behind these six clinical programs, you see a number of additional development programs that we believe provide the opportunity to add clinical programs to our pipeline over time.

Today, I'll focus most of the presentation on our most advanced programs in the areas '06 schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease psychosis. But before I do that, let me just briefly touch on our commercial strategy. And this strategy is designed around the most practical means to commercialize our internal CNS pipeline.

In the area of Parkinson's disease psychosis, which addresses a high-value specialty market, our strategy here is to participate in the commercialization in the United States through a small and dedicated sales force, focusing on neurologists. We plan to commercialize outside the United States in this program through a partner.

In the areas of schizophrenia and sleep, these are obviously primary care markets that are very, very different and require a large sales force. And therefore, our strategy in these program areas is to complete our Phase II trials and then explore potential strategic alliances that can help us to complete the Phase III program and also to optimize the value of these drugs on the market.

And the final component of our commercial strategy relates to our already partnered programs where our partners are responsible for conducting and funding and all the development, and we remain eligible for milestones and royalties.

Let me now take you through our two most advanced compounds, and let's begin with Pimavanserin, our small molecule proprietarily discovered internally by ACADIA that selectively blocks one of the serotonin receptors, the so-called 5-HT2A receptor.

We believe Pimavanserin has ideal drug-like properties that make it suitable for once-daily oral administration and also ideal as -- for use as a combination therapy. We have conducted a number of trials to date with Pimavanserin and demonstrated an outstanding safety profile. We've also built a very strong intellectual property position with Pimavanserin that includes a composition of matter patent that extends through 2021.

And we're developing Pimavanserin for several indications, and I'll cover two of them today. And let's start with the schizophrenia area. And schizophrenia, as you're well aware, is a devastating mental illness it affects up to 3 million patients in the United States, and in fact, 1% of the world's population.

And the drugs that are currently used to treat this disease leave a lot to be desired. They are not effective in all the patients. They don't treat all of the systems of the...

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