Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares were downgraded to hold from buy by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey on Thursday, after the company said one of its drugs had come up short in a study. Anthera said that the drug Sollpura, which is meant to help a specific kind of maldisgestion in cystic fibrosis patients, “narrowly missed” the primary endpoint for the study. The company said the structure of the study may have hindered the results by not allowing some patients to increase their dosage during the testing, and plans to initiate a new experiment in the first quarter of 2017. The news sent the stock down more than 60% to close Wednesday at 74 cents. “Although we believe Sollpura is an active drug, we see too many clinical and regulatory uncertainties for the program at this moment,” SunTrust analyst Edward Nash wrote in a note. “We are removing all Sollpura revenues from our model and lowering our price target to $1 from $6, which is solely based on cash value.” Shares are down 84% on the year, while the S&P 500 has gained 10%.
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