Morphosys slumps after Pela Phase III MANIFEST2 trial prelim results

Morphosys AG

21/11/2023 08:47

(Adds milestone, background, updated share move)
    ** Shares in MorphoSys  MORG.DE  tank 30% after the German
biotech firm announced preliminary results from the Pelabresib
Phase III MANIFEST2 trial
    ** The Phase 3 study, in which the drug was tested for the
treatment of myelofibrosis - a rare malignant disease of the
bone marrow - showed a statistically significant improvement in
the reduction of spleen volume and a strong positive trend in
symptom reduction, the company announced on Monday evening
    ** The trial succeeded in demonstrating a statistically
significant benefit in the primary endpoint, but failed to
demonstrate a statistically significant or clinically meaningful
benefit in a key secondary endpoint
   ** "MOR ADRs lost 25% in extended US trading with quite heavy
volume (450k ADRs)", a local trader says
   ** J.P. Morgan expects shares to significantly underperform
today, though for investors with sufficient risk tolerance and
patience, this could be an "attractive entry point"
   ** We continue to see a fair chance of approval on the
data-set in the intermediate risk population, and the asset
could still have blockbuster peak sales potential, which would
imply a fair value many multiples of last night's close, JPM
writes
    ** The stock is on track for its worst day in 21 years

 (Reporting by Mateusz Dobrzyniewski)
 ((Mateusz.dobrzyniewski@thomsonreuters.com))