Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. ‘s shares lost more than half their value on Thursday after the company said a drug candidate was delivering mixed results in a clinical study.
Sarepta SRPT,
announced that the drug could succeed in helping patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy to produce specific proteins that they normally do not produce in the first 12 weeks of treatment due to the disease. However, the functional changes over a longer period – 48 weeks – were not statistically significant compared to a placebo.
“We intend to continue with zeal and urgency to generate the evidence needed to bring SRP-9001 to waiting Duchenne patients around the world,” CEO Doug Ingram said in a news release on Thursday afternoon. .
Sarepta shares plunged more than 50% after stopping the nocturnal trading while the news was announced and the executives held a conference call on Thursday. The stock closed Thursday with a 1.5% gain at $ 168.95, but traded below $ 80 during the extended session. Sarepta shares have risen almost 30% in the past year as the S&P 500 index SPX,
achieved 15.8%.