Interception and goal

Investors who have held onto stock they bought in the October 2012 IPO by Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. now are sitting on a 30x multiple on their shares. Intercept soared 516% over two days last week based on highly significant improvement in a Phase II trial in NASH, a liver condition with no approved treatments.

NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the study sponsor, called an early halt to the placebo-controlled trial after a prespecified interim analysis showed obeticholic acid (OCA) met its primary endpoint of histological improvement in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis...