By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com — Shares of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ:KNSA) are down 7% Tuesday after falling over 16% premarket on the back of news that its phase 3 trial of mavrilimumab in Covid-19-related acute respiratory syndrome (ARDS) did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint
The biopharmaceutical company revealed that the study did not meet its primary endpoint of proportion of patients alive and free of mechanical ventilation at day 29. There were 582 patients in the phase 3 portion of the trial.
Sanj Patel, chairman and CEO of Kiniksa, said the company still believes in the "potential broad utility of mavrilimumab," and is evaluating the next steps.
"Our current strategy focuses our resources on the ARCALYST franchise, including the commercial execution in recurrent pericarditis, as well as the development of vixarelimab and our anti-CD40 program, KPL-404," said Patel.
Following the announcement, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analyst Paul Choi maintained his Buy rating and $34 price target on the stock, explaining that he had not factored Covid-ARDS revenue into his model. In early November, Kiniksa was added to the Analyst Focus list at JPMorgan based on the potential upside in recurrent pericarditis along with the company's pipeline of treatments.