What happened
Shares of Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA) continued to climb after the biotech updated investors on its pipeline progress and what to expect this year. Shares were up nearly 24% on Tuesday and are up another 10.4% at 1:16 p.m. EST today.
So what
M254, the company's antibody product, appears to be helping patients with a blood disorder called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura that results in low platelet levels. Five of six patients treated with M254 saw their platelet counts increase to the target level. The second part of the study is ongoing and should produce data in the second quarter of this year. Momenta also plans to start a clinical trial later this year testing M254 in a neurological disorder called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.
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The company is also making progress with its other advanced product, nipocalimab, an antibody targeting the neonatal Fc receptor. A clinical trial testing the drug in patients with the muscle disease called generalized myasthenia gravis is 80% enrolled, setting up results in the third quarter of this year. The biotech is also testing nipocalimab in a couple of other diseases, but the clinical trials aren't scheduled to produce data until 2021.
Further back in the pipeline, Momenta has a new pre-clinical program that could treat multiple myeloma, AL amyloidosis, as well as a host of rare auto-antibody-mediated diseases. There's also M230, which is partnered with the Australian drugmaker CSL and is in phase 1 development.
Now what
It's great to see Momenta making progress on its transition from selling hard-to-copy generic drugs to developing its pipeline of proprietary branded drugs. With about $545 million in the bank, the company has plenty of cash to get to its next inflection point.
