Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s stock lost more than half its value on Thursday’s trading session after the company said a drug candidate produced mixed results in a clinical study.
Sarepta SRPT,
announced that the drug managed to help patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy to produce specific proteins that they normally do not produce due to the disease in the first 12 weeks of treatment. Functional changes over a longer period of time – 48 weeks – were not statistically significant against a placebo, however.
“We intend to continue moving forward with diligence and urgency to generate the evidence needed to bring SRP-9001 to Duchenne waiting patients worldwide,” said Chief Executive Doug Ingram in a press release on Thursday afternoon.
Sarepta’s shares fell more than 50% after an after-hours trading stall, while the news was announced and executives held a conference call on Thursday. The stock closed Thursday with a 1.5% gain to $ 168.95, but was trading for less than $ 80 in the extended session. Sarepta’s shares gained almost 30% last year, like the S&P 500 SPX index,
gained 15.8%.