(Reuters) -Roivant Sciences said on Monday its experimental drug to treat systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) failed to reduce symptoms of the autoimmune disease in a mid-stage study.
The oral drug, brepocitinib, did not meet the primary study goal of reduction in disease activity at week 52 in patients of SLE, in which the immune system that normally helps protect the body from infection and diseases attacks its own tissues and causes inflammation.
Shares of Roivant fell 4.7% to $8.70 in early morning trading.
Priovant Therapeutics, which has brepocitinib’s global development rights and U.S. and Japan commercial rights, said it plans to continue progressing the program in indications outside SLE.
The drug candidate has demonstrated clinically meaningful benefit in six completed placebo-controlled mid-stage trials including in psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease, among other disease indications, Roivant said.
Priovant also expects to report mid-stage trial data of the drug in treating non-infectious uveitis, a condition that causes inflammation in the eye, in the first quarter of 2024.
The company was established in September 2021 through a transaction between Roivant and Pfizer, which licensed oral and topical brepocitinib’s global development rights to Priovant.
Earlier this year, Nektar Therapeutics’ experimental drug rezpegaldesleukin also failed the main goal of a mid-stage trial in SLE patients, leading to discontinuation of its advancement in a late-stage study. Nektar’s rezpegaldesleukin belongs to a different class of drugs compared to Roivant’s brepocitinib, and is being developed with Eli Lilly.
(Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shinjini Ganguli)
