Targacept News

Renowned value investor Seth Klarman just reported his first quarter portfolio. He did not buy any new stocks, but added to his positions in Idenix Pharma, NovaGold, Theravance Inc.

The Cary-based company said profit declined slightly to $1.1 million, or 5 cents per share, from $1.2 million a year earlier, excluding acquisition related expenses and stock-based compensation.

Targacept's first quarter dealt the company several blows with a phase 3 clinical trial failure for its lead drug candidate and a missed target in another clinical program.

The Winston-Salem biotech Targacept said the decline was the result of lower levels of deferred revenue being recognized from its development partnerships.

One path to a billion-dollar drug discovery for Targacept Inc. officially closed Monday with the ending of its pharmaceutical collaboration on TC-5214 with AstraZeneca PLC.

That drug failed in Phase 3 clinical trials in March and has been put on the shelf.