Immunovant unveiled promising results for an experimental Graves' disease treatment on Thursday. IMVT stock rallied, reversing a recent decline.
Patients with Graves' disease produce too much thyroid hormone. This can cause weight loss, rapid or irregular heartbeat, nervousness, weakness, sweating and frequent bowel movements. Immunovant tested a combination of its drug with anti-thyroid medications over 24 weeks. The company's drug lowers immunoglobulin G, an autoantibody believed to be at the center of numerous autoimmune conditions.
Additionally, after 12 weeks, a high dose of Immunovant's drug, batoclimab, lowered levels of immunoglobulin G, or IgG, by 87%. Patients then switched to a low dose of batoclimab for another 12 weeks. That led to an 81% decrease in IgG levels. The news is an important development for the IgG-lowering field. On Wednesday, Argenx reported a second high-profile failure for its rival drug.
On today's stock market, IMVT stock jumped 8.1% to close at 39.10. That helped partially erase a 12.8% drop on Wednesday following Argenx's news release. Argenx stock plummeted 25.1% on Wednesday, but reversed 4.5% higher on Thursday, closing at 354.13.
IMVT Stock: First-In-Class Opportunity
Leerink Partners analyst Thomas Smith says the results in Graves' disease will help Immunovant unlock another first-in-class opportunity for its drug beyond thyroid eye disease. Immunovant is already testing batoclimab in thyroid eye disease, a complication of Graves' disease.
"We look forward to a robust catalyst path in 2024," Smith said in a report.
Meanwhile, in the first half of the year, Immunovant plans to unveil the results for batoclimab in CIDP, a disease in which the body attacks myelin sheaths, the covers protecting nerves. Additionally, the company expects to have Phase 3 results for batoclimab in myasthenia gravis in the second half of 2024. In the latter disease, antibodies destroy communication between nerves and muscles, leading to muscle weakness.
Smith is also looking ahead to strategic decision for Immunovant's second-generation IgG-lowering drug, IMVT-1402. Immunovant says it's already planning to focus future development for IMVT-1402 in Graves' disease. That drug has shown similar IgG reductions that have "a cleaner safety/tolerability profile," Smith said.
He kept his outperform rating on IMVT stock, which he views as a top pick for the upcoming year.
Follow Allison Gatlin on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @IBD_AGatlin.
