By Sahil Pandey
Nov 9 (Reuters) – Zura Bio said on Monday its experimental drug failed the main goal of a mid-stage study in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, a chronic skin disease that causes painful lumps under the skin.
Shares of the biotech firm fell more than 75% in morning trading.
• The company said tibulizumab failed the study’s main goal of showing a benefit over placebo in reducing abscesses and inflammatory skin nodules after 16 weeks
• Key secondary goals were also missed, including measures tracking the proportion of patients achieving at least 50% and 75% reductions in disease lesions
• Zura said it will discontinue tibulizumab’s development for hidradenitis suppurativa but continue studying it in systemic sclerosis, which can cause hardening of the skin and internal organs, and polymyalgia rheumatica, an inflammatory condition causing muscle pain and stiffness
• The company said it had $187.7 million in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, which it expects will support planned operations through at least the end of 2028
• Wedbush analyst Martin Fan said the selloff was overdone, pointing to Zura’s cash position of $1.47 per share and a systemic sclerosis study readout in the first half of 2027 that he said was uncorrelated with the failed skin-disease trial
• The trial enrolled 247 adults with moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa who were randomly assigned to receive one of two doses of tibulizumab or placebo
• The two tibulizumab doses reduced lesion counts by 56% and 58.1%, respectively, versus a 52.5% reduction in the placebo group, the company said
• It added the drug was well tolerated, while one death in the higher-dose group was considered unrelated to treatment by the study investigator
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
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