Sage Therapeutics Rises After Depression Study Moves to Fast Lane

Sage Therapeutics Inc. climbed the most in two months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an expedited development plan for what the company says could be a practice-changing depression treatment. The biotechnology company only has to run a single 450-patient trial, which will allow for a compact, reasonably cost-efficient program that can assure both safety and effectiveness, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Jonas said in an interview. The medicine, SAGE-217, and the study design are different from those that have haunted psychiatric drugs in the past, according to Jonas.