AC Immune Down 43%; Semorinemab Didn't Meet Endpoint in Early Alzheimer's Disease

By Michael Dabaie

AC Immune SA shares fell 43% to $4.97 in afternoon trading.

The company said before the market open that a Phase 2 trial of semorinemab didn't meet the co-primary efficacy endpoint or two secondary endpoints for early Alzheimer's disease. Swiss-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company AC Immune said its partner, Roche Group's Genentech, informed the company of the top-line results of the trial, which showed the anti-Tau antibody semorinemab didn't meet its co-primary goal of reducing the decline on Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes compared to a placebo.

The secondary endpoints of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale 13 and Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study Group--Activities of Daily Living Inventory also weren't met, AC Immune said.

The company said additional data analyses are ongoing and Genentech plans to present the results from the trial at an upcoming medical congress. The second Phase 2 study of semorinemab in patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease remains ongoing, the company said.

"This is clearly disappointing news for the company and for the Alzheimer's community given that Tau has been increasingly viewed as a promising target for treating AD," SVB Leerink said in a note.

"Our view on this stock has not changed -- ACIU is still a great way to get leverage to the AD space in a very diversified way through multiple assets, multiple target approaches and modalities, and multiple strong partners that pay for so much of the product development that AC Immune has a very long runway of cash," the SVB analyst note said. The firm maintained its Outperform rating on the stock

Write to Michael Dabaie at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2020 13:15 ET (17:15 GMT)

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