Shares of BridgeBio Pharma, (NASDAQ: BBIO) skyrocketed 48.84% in pre-market trading on Monday. This surge followed the positive outcomes exhibited by the company’s experimental drug in a late-stage trial, which successfully reduced deaths among patients with a heart condition.
The trial focused on patients suffering from transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, a condition where a misshapen version of a naturally occurring human protein gets deposited in heart tissue. BridgeBio’s drug, called acoramidis, proved to be a game-changer for such conditions. According to the company’s statement on Monday, patients who received acoramidis had a survival rate of 81% after 2 1/2 years, compared to 74% for those who received a placebo.
This achievement is particularly significant because BridgeBio had previously faced a setback when the same drug failed to outperform a placebo in a final-stage trial at the end of 2021. Consequently, the company shares plummeted by 72%. However, the company has made a remarkable comeback with this recent success, and they are now preparing to seek clearance for the US market, as announced on Monday.
Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy affects thousands of individuals in the US each year. In fact, approximately 5,000 to 7,000 new cases are identified annually, according to a review of published data in April.
Muriel Finkel, the president of the Amyloidosis Support Groups advocacy group, expressed her enthusiasm about the results. She mentioned that the condition is increasingly recognized as a cause of heart failure, and these results bring hope to both patients and their loved ones.
