Why Matinas BioPharma Stock crashed today
What happened
Actions of Matinas BioPharma Holdings (NYSEMKT: MTNB) were down 32.7% as of 3:01 p.m. EST Monday. The sharp drop came after the company announced disappointing results from a Phase 2 clinical study of Lypdiso in lowering triglycerides.
So what
Matinas had good news and bad news. The good news was that Lypdiso beat Amarin‘s (NASDAQ: AMRN) Vascepa in increasing the levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the blood of study participants. It wasn’t even close, with Lypdiso demonstrating a 46% increase in EPA from baseline compared to Vascepa.
Image source: Getty Images.
But the bad news was for investors. The primary endpoint of the late stage study was percent change from baseline in triglyceride levels. Matinas hoped to show that Lypdiso was the winner hands down against Vascepa. However, Lypdiso failed to meet this primary endpoint.
Despite this failure, patients taking Lypdiso had lower triglyceride levels than patients taking Vascepa. The relative improvement, however, was not statistically significant.
Now what
Is the biotechnology stocks to recover after today’s massive sale? Perhaps. Matinas hopes to find a partner to work with on a pivotal late stage Lypdiso study. CEO Jerome Jabbour said company management believes Phase 2 data “indicates the potential for a strong reduction in cardiovascular risk” with Lypdiso.
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