** Shares of Avalo Therapeutics AVTX.O climb 43% to $23.26 premarket
** Co, late on Tuesday, said its experimental drug for a painful and chronic skin disease met the main goal of a mid-stage trial
** Avalo is developing the drug, abdakibart, to treat patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, a condition that causes recurring inflamed lumps and abscesses under the skin, mainly in the armpits and groin
** The drug helped about 42% of patients achieve significant skin clearance at 16 weeks, compared with 25.6% of patients who received a placebo
** "We are impressed by the magnitude of benefit," Wedbush analyst Robert Driscoll said
** Avalo plans to advance abdakibart into a larger, late-stage trial
** Separately, Avalo also announced a public stock offering expected to raise about $375 million to fund the development of abdakibart
** As of last close, stock down 10.5% YTD
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru)
((Kamal.Choudhury@thomsonreuters.com;))