Kezar Life Sciences drops as lead drug efficacy data disappoints

Kezar Life Sciences

04/05/2022 18:31

** Shares of drug developer  KZR.O  fall 38% to $7.63 in
afternoon trade, hitting a near six-month low
    ** Stock among top three pct losers on the Nasdaq
Biotechnology index  .NBI , which is down 1.1%
    ** Late on Tuesday, KZR reported top-line results from its
mid-stage trial testing its lead drug candidate zetomipzomib in
patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis, two
inflammatory disorders leading to muscle weakness  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw9vCzmca
    ** Most patients saw clinically meaningful improvements in
scores measuring response to treatment, but zetomipzomib
demonstrated no significant differentiation from placebo - KZR
    ** Co said zetomipzomib was generally well-tolerated in
study, with adverse events being generally mild-to-moderate
    ** "While the efficacy data are not what we had hoped, the
safety profile that zetomipzomib produced is quite encouraging,"
says brokerage Cowen, adding further data analysis is needed to
determine if there's any path forward for zetomipzomib in the
inflammatory disorders
    ** Stock has more than halved in value YTD, including
session's move

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