Synlogic Discontinues Development Of SYNB1020, Stock Down

Shares of Synlogic, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBX) declined almost 27.7% after it announced thediscontinuation of the development of SYNB1020, an early-stage pipeline candidate, for the treatment of hyperammonemia (a liver disease). Notably, shares of the company have slumped 30.8% so far this year compared with the industry’s decline of 0.6%.

The decision to discontinue was based on top-line data from an interim analysis of a placebo-controlled phase Ib/IIa study of the Synthetic Biotic medicine in 23 patients with cirrhosis and elevated blood ammonia. The study was designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of SYNB1020 treatment as well as changes in blood ammonia levels and several exploratory endpoints associated with early-stage hepatic encephalopathy (HE).

While the data demonstrated that SYNB1020 was well tolerated in patients with cirrhosis, there was no evidence of reduced blood ammonia level or changes in other exploratory endpoints relative to placebo.

The company plans to focus its resources on the advancement of SYNB1618 for the treatment of phenylketonuria. It intends to advance its Synthetic Biotic medicine,SYNB1891, for the treatment of solid tumors and several new programs in early development. In May 2019, Synlogic entered a new collaboration with pharma company, Roche (OTC:RHHBY) . Per the deal, Synlogic will develop SYNB1891 in combination with Roche’s PD-L1 inhibitor, Tecentriq (atezolizumab), for the treatment of advanced solid tumors.

The company also has a collaboration with AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) , under which a candidate targeting inflammatory bowel disease is being developed.

Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider

Synlogi ccurrently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A better-ranked stock is Acorda Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOR) , carrying Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Acorda’s loss per share estimates have narrowed from $3.59 to $2.74 for 2019 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in the trailing four quarters, the average being 69.68%.

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