Catabasis (CATB) Partners With UK-Based Charity For DMD Study

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATB) announced that it has entered into a partnership with Duchenne UK, a charity to fund its phase II study on the lead pipeline candidate edasalonexent, an NF-kB inhibitor for the treatment of non-ambulatory Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Duchenne UK is a London-based charity that provides funds to accelerate treatments for DMD.

The aforementioned exploratory study, subject to the receipt of adequate funding, will assess the safety, pharmacokinetics and exploratory measures of function including cardiac, skeletal muscle and pulmonary function in the given patient population.

The study will enroll approximately 16 non-ambulatory patients aged 10 years and above regardless of mutation type and who have been off steroids for minimum six months in the United Kingdom. Upon completion, patients will have the option to move to Catabasis’ new open-label extension study GalaxyDMD to receive edasalonexent.

Catabasis initiated GalaxyDMD, which is designed to provide longer-term safety data for supporting registration filings in March 2019.

Shares of Catabasis have increased 7.8% in the past year against the industry’s decrease of 4.2%.

Notably, edasalonexent is also being developed in an ongoing phase III PolarisDMD study for the treatment of DMD regardless of mutation type. It will evaluate the efficacy and safety of edasalonexent for registration purposes. Top-line data from the same is expected in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Edasalonexent is also being developed for other forms of muscular dystrophy, such as becker muscular dystrophy (BMD).

Meanwhile, in August 2019, Catabasis entered into a preclinical research collaboration to study edasalonexent for Dysferlinopathy with the Jain Foundation, a non-profit foundation with an aim to cure muscular dystrophies caused by dysferlin protein deficiency.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Catabasis currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the same sector include PDL BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDLI) , Emergent Biosolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) and ObsEva SA (NASDAQ:OBSV) , all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

PDL BioPharma’s earnings estimates have been revised 22.2% upward for 2020 over the past 60 days.

Emergent’s earnings estimates have moved 5.6% north for 2020 over the past 60 days.

ObsEva’s loss per share estimates have narrowed 4.3% for 2020 over the past 60 days.

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