Stocks of Annovis Bio jumped more than 134 percent in a day on Tuesday after the biotech reported positive results for buntanetap, its treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
The stock closed the day at $9.38 after starting at $5.33, up 76 percent after reaching $12.51 at one point.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurologic movement disorder, affecting the brain and causing difficulty with movements, or motor symptoms. Boxer Muhammed Ali suffered from the disease that is characterised by motor symptoms like tremors, stiffness or rigidity of the muscles, and slowness of movement. It also manifests in non-motor symptoms including sleep problems, depression and fatigue.
There are an estimated 10 million people worldwide living with PD.
The late-stage trial showed buntanetap was safe and effective in improving motor and non-motor activities and cognitive function in patients with early Parkinson’s.
Maria Maccecchini, the founder, president and CEO of the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company said: “We are very pleased to see improvements in many of our patients over such a short course of treatment. These compelling data reinforce our commitment to advancing buntanetap into a longer study, which will allow us not only to verify observed symptomatic improvements but also to explore buntanetap’s disease-modifying properties.”
In a filing, Annovis said its trials with buntanetap met results for both primary and secondary endpoints in the specified subgroups and added it “showed dose-dependent and statistically significant improvements in cognition in the overall enrolled PD population. Patients with substantial cognitive decline exhibited a very pronounced improvement”.
The trial showed that for the entire enrolled patient group, the placebo group showed cognition deterioration throughout the study, while all treatment groups maintained baseline levels. The two treatment groups were given either 10 mg or 20 mg of the drug.
Treatment with 20 mg “showed significant improvement in cognition compared with placebo,” the company said. The drug also improved cognition in patients with mild dementia.
Among key findings revealed by the company, buntanetap stops cognitive decline in all enrolled patients and improves cognition in patients with mild dementia. Most PD patients had normal cognitive functioning, and just 12 percent showed cognitive decline.
It improves motor and non-motor PD-related functions in patients with a diagnosis of over three years and also in patients with Postural Instability and Gait Difficulty (PIGD).
Annovis said buntanetap maintained a consistent safety profile across all participants, with no significant differences between early and advanced PD patients, confirming the company’s previous data for Alzheimer’s disease.
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