Celldex Therapeutics unveiled promising results from a treatment for chronic hives on Monday. The biotech stock rocketed to its highest point since October 2021.
The company tested its drug in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic spontaneous urticaria. This disease causes chronic hives for at least six weeks. Celldex studied its drug in patients whose hives resisted treatment with antihistamines or other drugs.
Over 12 weeks, patients who received Celldex's barzolvolimab showed a statistically significant improvement in symptoms compared with the placebo group. The results were consistent across all doses, Celldex said in a news release.
"These data build upon previously reported positive topline data shared in November 2023 and continue to support barzolvolimab's differentiated (effectiveness), rapid onset of action and generally clean safety profile," Leerink Partners analyst Thomas Smith said in a report.
The biotech stock soared 27.8% to 48.23 on today's stock market.
Biotech Stock: 37.5% In Complete Control
By the end of 12 weeks, 37.5% of patients who received a high dose of barzolvolimab had their hives under "complete control," Celldex said in a news release. That compared with just 6.4% of the placebo group. In comparison, 62.5% of the barzolvolimab group had a "well controlled" disease. Just 12.8% of placebo recipients hit the same mark.
Patients started responding to the hives treatment within two weeks.
Smith also noted that barzolvolimab was effective in patients who previously received Novartis and Roche's drug Xolair and either didn't respond or stopped responding. These are difficult-to-treat patients, he said.
Promisingly for the biotech stock, just 8% of patients experienced neutropenia. Neutropenia occurs when a patient doesn't have enough of a certain white blood cell. This exposes patients to the risk of infection. The 8% figure is down from 14% in a prior study, Smith said. One doctor described the incidence of neutropenia in barzolvolimab studies as "irrelevant and clinically meaningless," he said.
Smith kept his outperform rating on biotech stock Celldex.
"Overall, we view the detailed data as highly encouraging and supportive of barzolvolimab's compelling clinical profile that should allow for positioning as a high (effectiveness) agent that can safely address patients with difficult-to-treat, moderate-to-severe chronic spontaneous urticaria," he said.
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