Veru Inc: Jumps on positive results from mid-stage COVID-19 drug trial

Hanall Biopharma

08/02/2021 13:07

**  Shares of biopharma co  VERU.O  soar 21% to $13.18
premarket
    ** VERU reports positive efficacy and safety results from a
mid-stage clinical trial for its drug candidate, VERU-111, in
patients at high risk of COVID-19 associated Acute Respiratory
Distress Syndrome (ARDS)  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNXC4047
    ** Says treatment with VERU-111 led to a statistically
significant and clinically meaningful reduction in the
proportion of patients with treatment failures (dead or alive
with respiratory failure) vs placebo, which was the trial's main
goal
    ** Among older patients, treatment failures were 9% for
VERU-111 vs 50% for placebo - VERU
    ** Co says VERU-111 reduced the proportion of patients who
died on study from 30% in the placebo group to 5.3% in the
treated group
    ** Says it has been granted an expedited end-of-Phase II
meeting with the FDA to discuss next steps, including a Phase
III study
    ** Says late-stage study, expected to enroll 200 patients,
likely to start in April 2021 and conclude by Q4 2021
    ** Stock up ~26% YTD, as of last close

 (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar)
 ((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com;))