Novan gains on Phase II athlete's foot readout

Novan Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVN) rose $1.90 (21%) to $6.29 on Wednesday after it said the two highest doses of SB208 met the primary endpoint in a Phase II trial to treat tinea pedis, or athlete's foot. The company is developing SB208 to treat superficial cutaneous fungal infections, and said a Phase II trial in patients with onychomycosis could start as early as next half.

The study compared 2%, 4% or 16% concentrations of the broad-spectrum antifungal gel to vehicle control. Its primary endpoint evaluated the percentage of patients with negative fungal culture tests at day 14. Among evaluable patients, 80.6% receiving the middle dose of SB208 (p=0.002) and 74.2% receiving the highest dose (p=0.016) met the endpoint, compared with 45.5% for placebo...