Negative trial result hardly dents Teva share price

Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad
Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad

Teva announced that it was discontinuing a trial of  fremanezumab for chronic cluster headache.

After a long upsurge in the share price of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), which has risen 113% since the low to which it sank last November, on Friday the company announced negative news, but its share price was hardly affected, falling a mere 0.1%. The share closed at $23.8, giving Teva a market cap of $24.2 billion.

Teva announced a change in the clinical development program of fremanezumab in chronic cluster headache, which was at the Phase III stage. Teva said that a pre-specified futility analysis of the chronic cluster headache study revealed that the primary endpoint of mean change from baseline in the monthly average number of cluster headache attacks during the 12-week treatment period was unlikely to be met. It stressed that there were no safety concerns observed with fremanezumab treatment in the trial. Teva will discontinue the trial for chronic cluster headache. The episodic cluster headache study is not affected and continues as planned.

“While we are disappointed with this outcome, we remain optimistic that fremanezumab could have clinical benefits in additional conditions, beyond migraine, where calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) plays a contributory role in their pathophysiology. We would like to thank the patients and investigators for their participation in the Chronic Cluster Clinical Trial,” said Tushar Shah, M.D., Senior Vice President, Head of Global Specialty Clinical Development at Teva.

Fremanezumab is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with an action date of September 16, 2018, and by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as a quarterly or monthly injection for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults.

Credit Suisse analyst Vamil Divan described Teva's announcement as "a non-issue", saying that the drug would have reached peak sales of $70 million for the chronic cluster headache indication. His recommendation for Teva remains 'Outperform", with a price target of $23, which is below the current market price.

Morgan Stanley has a 'Market perform" rating for Teva with a price target of $19. Analyst David Risinger writes that chronic cluster headaches represent a smaller opportunity than migraine, but that there is no current solution for cluster headache patients. Fewer than 350,000 Americans suffer from chronic cluster headaches, whereas nine million suffer from migraines and are a target for drugs like fremanezumab. Risinger estimates that Teva will generate revenue of $281 million from the drug in 2020, and that it will account for 2% of the company's total sales revenue.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 17, 2018

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018

Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad
Teva Photo: Reuters Ammar Awad
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