Aspect Medical Systems Inc. is touting a study in the September issue of the journal Psychiatry Research showing that one of its biomarkers can accurately predict the effectiveness of an anti-depression drug.
The Norwood, Mass.-based brain monitoring equipment maker said the “Biomarkers for Rapid Identification of Treatment Effectiveness trial in Major Depression,” or BRITE-MD, trial showed that its quantitative electroencephalographic biomarker, the Antidepressant Treatment Response biomarker predicted the effectiveness of escitalopram 74 percent of the time in a pool of 375 patients with major depressive disorder after one week.
Escitalopram is sold under the trade names Lexapro by Forest Pharmaceuticals and Cipralex by Lundbeck.
Aspect posted second-quarter sales of $24.9 million, down slightly from $25.2 million during the same period last year. Although net income plummeted from $119 million during the 2008 second quarter to $307,000 during the three months ended July 4, operating margins improved to 2.5 percent, compared with -3.8 percent on a nearly million-dollar loss during Q2 2008.