Theravance Stock Drops on Covid-19 Therapy Disappointment – Barron’s

Text size

The biotech firm Theravance Biopharma said that a trial of its drug nezulcitinib in hospitalized patients with acute lung injury caused by Covid-19 had failed, and that patients who received the drug didnt have more days without respiratory failure than those who received a placebo.

Shares of Theravance (TBPH) initially fell as much as 17.4%, to $14.42, from their Friday closing price of $17.52. Shares recovered later in the premarket session, however, and by 7:30 a.m. Eastern time, the stock was down only 3.6%, to $16.88.

Theravance said there were positive signals in the data. The company said that a post-hoc analysis of the trial showed an improvement in mortality and time to recovery in a subgroup of patients who received nezulcitinib and whose blood tests indicated certain proteins were below a level indicative of hyperinflammation.

The company also said it saw a positive trend in the mortality rate in the treatment group.

Even though this Phase 2 study, enrolling more than 200 patients, didnt meet the primary endpoint, we are encouraged by the trend in the pre-specified analysis of the 28-day mortality rate in the intent-to-treat population, said Theravances CEO, Rick Winningham, in a statement.

Theravance said that it would discuss the results with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to seek input on protocols to further study nezulcitinib in acute hyperinflammation in the lung.

Nezulcitinib is a so-called JAK inhibitor, a member of a class of drugs that seeks to combat inflammation by blocking the activity of certain enzymes. Unlike most JAK inhibitors, nezulcitinib is inhaled and designed to target the lungs. The company has said it may also test nezulcitinib for other conditions.

The drug is one of a number of drugs that combat inflammation that companies have sought to test in the sickest Covid-19 patients, often with disappointing results. One apparently successful set of results came just last week, when a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Pfizers (PFE) JAK inhibitor, which is marketed as Xeljanz, lowered the incidence of death or respiratory failure compared with a placebo in patients with Covid-19 pneumonia.

The incidence of death or respiratory failure in the placebo group in the study, which was run in a hospital in Brazil, was 29%, compared with 18.1% in the group that received Xeljanz.

Theravance shares are down 1.4% so far this year, and down 21.6% over the past 12 months. The company has a market value of $1.1 billion. Of the nine analysts tracked by FactSet who cover Theravance, seven rate it at Buy, one rates it at Hold, and one rates it Underweight.

The company scheduled a call for investors at 8 a.m. Eastern.

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com

The rest is here:

Theravance Stock Drops on Covid-19 Therapy Disappointment - Barron's

Related Posts
Tags: