NeuroThera opens German site for SCI-110 Tourette trial, cites unverified 21% tic drop
The Phase IIb expansion leans on a Phase IIa topline figure that still carries no sample size, p-value, or timepoint, leaving the placebo-controlled trial to supply the first rigorous test.
Executive Summary
- NeuroThera Labs has moved its placebo-controlled Phase IIb trial of SCI-110 in Tourette syndrome into execution by opening a new site, and the announcement recycles a prior efficacy figure rather than reporting new data.
- The tic-reduction figure being cited has never been paired with a sample size, statistical comparison, or safety disclosure, and the trial it originates from shows no results and an unresolved registry status.
- The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design supplies the rigor the prior figure lacks, shifting the real test of the drug's effect to this expanding trial rather than to the press release.
- No other cannabinoid-receptor-targeted program is registered in Tourette syndrome, leaving SCI-110 alone in its mechanism class in a field where several other mechanisms, including a VMAT2 inhibitor and a dopamine D1 antagonist, have already reached later-phase testing.
The announcement
NeuroThera Labs Inc. (TSXV: NTLX), the majority-owned subsidiary of SciSparc Ltd. (Nasdaq: SPRC), said on July 15, 2026 that it had opened a Phase IIb trial site for SCI-110 at Hannover Medical School in Germany, adding to sites at Yale Child Study Center and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. SCI-110 combines dronabinol with palmitoylethanolamide in a single oral dosage form intended to reduce tics and comorbid symptoms in adults with Tourette syndrome. The company said the German site had cleared regulatory review from Germany's Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices and the ethics committee at Hannover Medical School. SciSparcSciSparc: NeuroThera Labs Announces Initiation of Phase IIb Clinical Trial at Hannover Medical ...Jul 15, 2026
The cited result
The release frames the Phase IIb expansion as building on "positive safety and efficacy results" from an earlier Phase IIa study that showed an average 21% reduction in tic severity across the full participant sample, measured on the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale Total Tic Score. Chief Technology Officer Adi Zuloff-Shani called the German site opening "an important step forward" and said the company is "committed to advancing this promising therapy and delivering data to support its future approval". The 21% figure carries no disclosed sample size, timepoint, p-value, or confidence interval, and the underlying trial identified in registry data, NCT03651726, has recorded no results on ClinicalTrials.gov. SciSparcSciSparc: NeuroThera Labs Announces Initiation of Phase IIb Clinical Trial at Hannover Medical ...Jul 15, 2026
The registry record
NCT03651726 lists a primary completion date of November 1, 2019, and moved from "Not yet recruiting" to "Unknown status" on August 3, 2020, where it has remained since, with no further registry update logged through the trial's last modification in February 2026. The trial anticipated 60 participants and was designed around a change in tic severity on the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale Total Tic Score. That gap between a study last active on paper in 2020 and a 2026 press release promoting its topline result is the structural fact behind the disclosure. NCT03651726A Study to Examine the Efficacy of a Therapeutic THX-110 for Tourette SyndromeNCT03651726
The controlled trial ahead
The Phase IIb study now expanding into Germany is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design enrolling adults aged 18 to 65, with the primary efficacy endpoint set as the change in Yale Global Tic Severity Scale score at weeks 12 and 26 against baseline, and safety assessed through adverse-event monitoring. That design is built to produce the comparator-controlled, powered result the Phase IIa figure lacks. Regulatory designations for SCI-110 in Tourette syndrome show no Breakthrough, Fast Track, or Orphan status on record. SciSparcSciSparc: NeuroThera Labs Announces Initiation of Phase IIb Clinical Trial at Hannover Medical ...Jul 15, 2026
The competitive field
No other trial registered for Tourette syndrome targets Cannabinoid Receptors, leaving SCI-110 alone in its mechanism class in this indication. The broader Tourette syndrome field includes later-stage programs built on different mechanisms: Teva's deutetrabenazine and TEV-50717 target VMAT2 and have reached Phase 3, Emalex Biosciences' ecopipam targets the dopamine D1 receptor and has also reached Phase 3, and Boehringer Ingelheim's pramipexole, a DRD2-targeting agent, reached Phase 3 as well. Field activity around Cannabinoid Receptors in Tourette syndrome shows zero recent trials against 64 older trials industry-wide, a decline that reflects the mechanism's broader inactivity in this indication rather than anything specific to SCI-110.
This analysis was produced using AI-assisted reporting systems, AppliedXL data, and official public records. These systems undergo editorial review, quality checks, and regular audits by human experts. Errors may still occur, as with any automated system. Always consult the linked primary sources. Read our AI Editorial Policy.