Maze Plunges Despite 'Overwhelming Positive' Data

Maze Therapeutics (MAZE) stock crashed Wednesday despite "overwhelmingly positive" test results for a kidney disease drug that could take on Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX).

The biotech company tested its drug, MZE829, in patients with APOL1-mediated kidney disease, a rapidly advancing condition that causes severe scarring on the kidneys. Patients generally progress to needing dialysis or kidney failure.After 12 weeks, patients taking MZE829 showed a 35.6% average reduction in proteinuria, or the amount of protein in their urine. Protein in the urine signals the kidneys aren't doing their job properly. The results were consistent across a broad population of patients, including those with diabetes and another kidney condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or FSGS.

But Maze Therapeutics shares crashed more than 19% to 39.43 in morning trades. That puts shares on deck to open below their 50-day moving average. Vertex stock rose a fraction to 450.98.
Maze Therapeutics Takes On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Investors compared Maze's results for MZE829 to Vertex's rival drug, inaxaplin. A waterfall plot on the presentation suggested MZE829 might not work as well in diabetic patients.


But Leerink Partners analyst Joseph Schwartz, who called the results "overwhelmingly positive," cautioned against making a comparison to Vertex's drug. The patient pools were different and the 61.8% proteinuria reduction in FSGS patients was far higher in Maze's study. In Vertex's study, FSGS patients showed an average 47.6% reduction in proteinuria.

"We think this supports Maze's thesis that MZE829's higher potency and unique mechanism of action should drive better proteinuria response," he said. He noted Vertex added $4.6 billion to its market cap in December 2021 on its Phase 2 results. That's more than double Maze's current market cap of around $2.4 billion.

Schwartz views the dive in Maze stock as "a clear overreaction," saying "investors seem to be missing the forest for the trees." He reiterated his outperform rating on Maze stock.

https://www.investors.com/news/technology/maze-therapeutics-stock-apol1-mediated-kidney-disease-vertex/