After a large phase-three study demonstrated the success of its new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, the stock of pharmaceutical manufacturer and vendor Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has increased by over 5% in premarket trading.
The drug study’s success seemingly had an impact, with the stock climbing before the opening bell as much as 8% before retracing marginally.
As it happens, the study has shown that the drug ‘donanemab’ significantly slowed the cognitive and functional decline in patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, as reported by CNBC Squawk Box host Joe Kernen on May 3.
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Indeed, Kernen explained the drug targets the amyloid plaque in the brain and has demonstrated statistically significant results. Specifically, nearly half of the participants showed no clinical progression of the disease after one year. As he added:
“Based on these results, Eli Lilly plans to seek regulatory approval for the drug as soon as possible.”
‘Biggest drug ever’
As a reminder, the pharmaceutical company had announced its marketing application for ‘donanemab’ back in September 2022, when analyst Navin Jacob at global financial provider UBS Group referred to it as “the biggest drug ever,” as Finbold reported on September 22.
In the words of Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific and medical officer, who hopes that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the drug will lead the Medicare program for the elderly to stop denying routine coverage of anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s drugs:
“The drug effect is very strong. (…) These are levels of efficacy that just haven’t been seen before in Alzheimer’s, setting a new benchmark for what’s possible in this disease.”
LLY stock reacts
Shortly after the news of the study’s success came out, the stock of Eli Lilly soared 5.15% in premarket trading, its price at press time standing at $425.02, after a previous close at $404.20, according to the recent data retrieved by Finbold on May 3.
In the last month, LLY has been trading in the wide range between $351.27 and $411.54, currently trading near the higher end of this range and making a new 52-week high, demonstrating positive long and short-term trends and doing better than 95% of all other stocks in terms of its yearly performance.
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