Intercept soars on liver disease data
Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ICPT) surged $203.48 (281%) to $275.87 on Thursday after the company said the Phase II FLINT trial to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was stopped early after a planned interim analysis showed once-daily obeticholic acid met the primary endpoint. The move translates to a $3.9 billion gain in market cap for a closing valuation of $5.3 billion. NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) sponsored and ran the double-blind trial. According to NIDDK, NASH affects 2-5% of Americans, or about 6.3-15.7 million people.
By year end, Intercept plans to seek U.S. and European approval of obeticholic acid to treat primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The oral farnesoid X receptor (FXR; NR1H4) agonist also is in Phase II testing for bile acid diarrhea and portal hypertension. ...