Encenicline's Phase III failure (2015)
Encenicline, an alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist developed by Forum Pharmaceuticals for Alzheimer's disease, failed to show efficacy in Phase III trials. It was also being tested for schizophrenia.
Forum halted the encenicline program after the efficacy miss.
Added to a string of alpha-7 agonists failing in late-stage trials despite promising earlier data.
VQW-765 targets the same receptor type. Developers have repeatedly struggled to turn alpha-7 modulation into measurable clinical benefit.
