Why Otonomy (OTIC) Shares Are Plunging Today?

Otonomy Inc OTIC announced that the clinical evaluation of higher doses for OTO-413 (0.75 mg and 1.50 mg) in patients with hearing loss demonstrated no clinically meaningful improvement.
These results contrast the positive clinical signal observed with 0.3 mg OTO-413 versus placebo in the previous Phase 1/2 and Phase 2a trial cohorts using the same study design and endpoints.
Also see: Otonomy Shares Sink After Stopping Mid-Stage Tinnitus Study.
"The lack of clinical activity for OTO-413 in these higher dose cohorts is disappointing and unexpected based on our in vivo preclinical studies, which supported a broad therapeutic dose range for OTO-413. However, our ex vivo studies and data in the neurotrophin literature suggest the possibility of a complex dose-response relationship for BDNF with declining activity observed at higher dose levels, which might explain these results," said Alan C. Foster, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Otonomy.
Initial clinical studies have demonstrated that a single intratympanic injection of OTO-413 is well-tolerated and improves hearing function across multiple clinically validated speech-in-noise hearing tests.
Price Action: OTIC shares are down 56.90% at $0.11 on the last check Thursday.

At Higher Doses, Otonomy's OTO-413 Shows No Clinical Benefit In Hearing Loss