Shares of Roivant Sciences extended their breakout Wednesday, stoked by promising test results in a difficult-to-treat autoimmune disease that affects the skin and muscles.
The company studied its drug, brepocitinib, in patients with dermatomyositis, a rare condition that causes painful inflammation in the muscles and skin rashes. After a year of treatment, brepocitinib recipients showed an improvement of 46.5 points on a 100-point scale measuring symptoms. The placebo group had a 31.2-point improvement.
Roivant Sciences and partner Proivant Therapeutics are now planning to seek Food and Drug Administration approval in the first half of next year.
Roivant stock popped 7.8% 15.28. That sent shares briefly into a profit-taking zone after they broke out of a consolidation with a buy point at 13.05, according to MarketSurge.
Reducing Steroid Dependence
A 30-milligram dose of the once-daily pill beat out the placebo on the key goal of the study and all nine secondary goals. Notably, more than two-thirds of brepocitinib recipients had a moderate improvement in symptoms, while nearly half had a major response to treatment.
The standard treatment for dermatomyositis is steroids. Long-term use of steroids is associated with a host of side effects. Roughly 75% of patients in Roivant Sciences' study were taking steroids.
Of those, 62% of brepocitinib patients were able to reduce their steroid dose to 2.5 milligrams per day or lower, compared with 34% of placebo patients. More than four in 10 patients, 42%, were able to come off steroids completely, compared with 23% of the placebo group.
Against this backdrop, the clinical improvement with brepocitinib was "rapid, deep, lasting and broad," Roivant said in its news release.
Roivant Sciences has an IBD Relative Strength Rating of 81. This means shares rank in the top 19% of all stocks when it comes to 12-month performance.
Follow Allison Gatlin on X/Twitter at @AGatlin_IBD.
