Good news from the lab sparked a mini-rally in Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) stock on Tuesday. The biotech's shares closed the trading session more than 2% higher in price, which was good enough to top the flat-lining S 500 index. One of the company's investigational drugs is showing decent promise in a clinical trial.

Vertex announced that its VX-548, a non-opioid medication aimed at treating moderate to severe acute pain, met its primary endpoint in a phase 3 trial involving patients with a wide range of pain conditions.

The biotech said that the treatment met its primary endpoint, which was a notable reduction in pain across a 48-hour period. That was the good news; the bad is that VX-548 failed to meet its secondary endpoint of reducing pain more significantly than a combination of acetaminophen -- used in over-the-counter treatments such as Tylenol -- and hydrocodone, an opioid.

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Source Fool.com