由于COVID-19治疗在后期试验中失败，Atea股价下跌

Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) announced Friday that its antiviral therapy, bemnifosbuvir, did not meet the primary endpoint in a global Phase 3 trial designed to assess its potential as a treatment for COVID-19.

Atea (AVIR) shares fell ~24% in the pre-market after a brief trading halt following the annoucement. 

Citing data from its SUNRISE-3 trial, the Boston, Massachusetts-headquartered biopharma said the bemnifosbuvir monotherapy arm didn’t meet the study’s primary goal as there was no statistically significant decline in all-cause hospitalization or death through Day 29.

SUNRISE-3 enrolled high-risk outpatients with mild or moderate COVID-19 who received bemnifosbuvir or placebo in addition to standard of care.

Atea (AVIR) CEO and founder Jean-Pierre Sommadossi attributed the setback to the low prevalence of COVID-19 pneumonia. “In an environment where there is much less COVID-19 pneumonia, it becomes more difficult for a direct-acting antiviral to demonstrate impact on the course of the disease,” he added.

“While we are disappointed with the outcome of trial and will not pursue a regulatory pathway forward, we believe that the findings add to the collective understanding of the evolution of COVID-19,” AVIR’s chief development officer Janet Hammond remarked.