By Josh Nathan-Kazis

Shares of drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries were up more than 20% in premarket trading Tuesday on the back of promising early data on a treatment for two chronic bowel conditions.

Teva and its partner Sanofi said that 47.8% of patients with ulcerative colitis who received a high dose of their drug duvakitug experienced clinical remission, compared with 20.5% who received a placebo.

The results were similar for patients with Crohn's disease. The companies said that both responses were significant and clinically meaningful.

Teva's American depositary receipts were up 20% in premarket trading, while ADRs of Sanofi, the far larger of the two partners, were up 4.1%.

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are both chronic inflammatory conditions impacting the colon. While there are a number of medicines on the market to treat the diseases, Teva called duvakitug "potentially best-in-class" in a presentation on Tuesday morning.

The study was a Phase 2b trial that tracked patients for 14 weeks. Teva and Sanofi said that they planned to start a Phase 3 trial, though offered no timeline.

The trial results come on what seems to be the tail end of a long, slow recovery for Teva. After many years of underperformance, as the company labored under an immense debt load, things seem to be turning around for the drugmaker. The stock was up 58% this year as of the end of the day on Monday.

Teva has been de-emphasizing its generic drug business, one of the largest in the world, in favor of developing and selling its own medicines. That strategy seems to be working out. The company reported positive data on a schizophrenia drug in the spring, and now has very positive inflammatory bowel disease results to report.

The company said that duvakitug was well-tolerated in the study, and that no safety concerns were identified.

"These positive results reinforce Teva's ability to develop and accelerate access to innovative medicines," the company's chief medical officer, Dr. Eric Hughes, said in a statement. "We are excited to collaborate on the next phase of development with our partner, Sanofi."

Teva and Sanofi share development and commercial costs of duvakitug and are set for a 50/50 profit split in major markets if the drug is approved.

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com

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December 17, 2024 09:17 ET (14:17 GMT)

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