CymaBay down on disappointing data on NASH candidate

CymaBay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CBAY) craters 40% premarket on light volume (so far) in reaction to 12-week data from a Phase 2b clinical trialevaluating seladelpar in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

All three doses (10 mg, 20 mg and 50 mg) of seladelpar failed to outperform placebo in terms of the relative or absolute change in liver fat content (LFC) from baseline, the proportion of subjects achieving at least a 30% relative reduction in LFC or the proportion of subjects achieving at least a 5% absolute reduction in LFC (the 20 mg cohort slightly beat control in this group).

Treatment with seladelpar did produce positive changes in four liver enzymes associated with improved liver function and reduced stress.

Seladelpar, an orally available PPARδ agonist, has performed better in patients with primary biliary cholangitis but this is a much smaller potential market compared to NASH.

Management will host a conference call this morning to discuss the results.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3470340-cymabay-40-percent-premarket-disappointing-data-nash-candidate-seladelpar