Higher dose of AcelRx pain drug meets trial goal

(Reuters) – AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said a mid-stage trial of its experimental pain drug showed that a higher dose of the therapy met the main goal of reducing acute pain in patients, but the lower dose failed to meet the goal. Shares of the company fell 4 percent to $5.92 on Wednesday morning on the Nasdaq. However, analysts said they viewed the trial data as positive. “The whole point of a dose-finding trial is to find the lowest efficacious dose, and they have done that at the higher dose of 30 mcg. So, I don’t read a lot into the lower dose,” MLV & Co analyst Ed Arce said. …