Vera slumps as kidney disease drug data fails to impress analysts

Chinook Therapeutics

04/01/2023 16:21

(Updates)
    ** Vera Therapeutics Inc's shares  VERA.O  slump 63.9%,
hitting a record low at $6.6, after kidney disease trial data
fell below analyst expectations
    ** Stock top pct. loser across U.S. stock exchanges 
    ** Co late on Tuesday reported that its lead candidate
atacicept met the main goal of a mid-stage study to treat
immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) patients 
    ** Atacicept at 24 weeks, achieved statistical significance
in the 150 mg dose group with a 33% mean reduction in proteins
from baseline - VERA
    ** SVB Securities says the protein reduction falls well
below the >50% bar set by a competitor's trial 
    ** Brokerage H.C. Wainwright sees study data as weak vs IgAN
trials of competitors – Chinook Therapeutics Inc  KDNY.O  and
Travere Therapeutics Inc  TVTX.O  – that achieved stronger
protein reductions; cuts Vera's PT to $15 from $36 
        ** Jefferies says the higher dose of Atacicept did not
show much added benefit in the trial; downgrades to "hold" from
"buy" and cuts PT to $6 from $32
    ** Wedbush downgrades to "neutral" from "outperform" and
reduces PT to $8 from $33 
    ** Stock had fallen ~34% in the past 12 months 
 (Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru)
 ((Pratik.Jain@thomsonreuters.com;))