FibroGen hits record low after neuromuscular disorder therapy fails late-stage study

Kyntra Bio

30/08/2023 15:05

** Shares of drug developer FibroGen Inc  FGEN.O  fall ~23%
to hit record low of 98 cents
    ** Co late on Tuesday said its experimental therapy to treat
patients who cannot walk with Duchenne muscular dystrophy(DMD),
pamrevlumab, failed to meet the main goal in a late-stage study
     ** DMD causes progressive muscle failure that mainly
affects boys, with symptoms showing at an early age
    ** Although the failure was expected, brokerage William
Blair says surprised that the pamrevlumab arm performed
numerically worse than the placebo arm
    ** This marks the latest setback after the therapy also
failed to improve measures of upper limb strength in DMD
patients in June and failed in a late-stage trial in patients
with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a serious lung disease
    ** FGEN's anemia drug roxadustat also failed in a late-stage
study
    ** Brokerage says beyond the roxadustat and pamrevlumab
franchise, other pipeline assets are too early to properly
assess their commercial prospects
    ** FGEN stock down 92% YTD

 (Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru)
 ((Sriparna.Roy@thomsonreuters.com;))