Equillium (EQ) : Positive Covid-19 results

Equillium (EQ) announced that a clinical trial conducted in India by its partner Biocon demonstrated that itolizumab significantly reduced mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Ticker: EQ

 

Equillium reports data for Itolizumab demonstration reduction in mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

Co announced that as reported by its partner, Biocon Limited, a clinical trial conducted in India by Biocon demonstrated that itolizumab significantly reduced mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Biocon has announced that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the regulatory agency that oversees drug approvals, has granted restricted emergency use of itolizumab for the treatment of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in India. Based on the encouraging topline results of the study reported by Biocon and subsequent DCGI approval to treat COVID-19 patients, Equillium is planning to conduct a global randomized controlled clinical trial of itolizumab in COVID-19 patients for which it will file a U.S. investigational new drug application (IND).

Biocon conducted a randomized, controlled, open-label study at four hospitals in India, enrolling a total of 30 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe ARDS. Twenty patients were randomized to receive itolizumab plus best supportive care, while 10 patients received best supportive care alone. The primary endpoint was mortality at one month. As reported by Biocon:

• In the itolizumab arm there were no deaths and all patients have recovered; in the control arm three patients died and the remainder have recovered.
• The mortality benefit observed in the itolizumab arm was statistically significant.
• Consistent with the observed clinical improvement, patients who received itolizumab also experienced significant reductions in inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNFa.

IPOs this week : April 8 - 12, 19

Expected IPO pricings:

• Jumia Technologies (JMIA), 
• Tufin Software Technologies (TUFN) and 
• Pagerduty (PD) on April 10. 

IPO lockup expirations:

• Allogene Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALLO) and Livent (NYSE:LTHM) on April 9; 
• Anaplan (NYSE:PLAN) and Equilium (NASDAQ:EQ) on April 10.

Equillium (EQ) began trading on the Nasdaq on 12 October 2018

Equillium, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops products for autoimmune and inflammatory, or immuno-inflammatory disorders. The company was formerly known as Attenuate Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Equillium, Inc. in May 2017.

• Founded in 2017.
• Headquartered in San Diego, California.
• Full Time Employees: 7
• https://equilliumbio.com

Equillium opened for trade at $14.35 after pricing 4.7M share IPO at $14/share

Ticker: EQ

Equillium chairman and CEO Dan Bradbury previously headed another La Jolla drug maker, the diabetes drug manufacturer Amylin Pharmaceuticals, which was founded in 1987.

Bradbury, who worked at Amylin for 18 years, was CEO from 2007 to 2012, when the company was jointly acquired for $5.3 billion, plus $1.7 billion in Amylin debt, by New York-based pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN).

The acquisition followed the regulatory approval of Amylin’s drug Bydureon, a once-per-week diabetes shot.

Bristol later sold its stake in Amylin to AstraZeneca, shuttered the San Diego company’s operations and elsewhere, and folded its personnel into its other operations.

Prior to his time at Amylin, Bradbury spent 10 years with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) predecessor SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals in marketing and sales.

Equillium said it intends to use about $50 million in IPO proceeds to fund research and development of EQ001, specifically a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for the acute form of GVHD in early 2019, and a Phase 2 clinical trial for the chronic version of the disease and a proof-of-concept clinical trial for the treatment of severe asthma in the first half of 2019.