Omeros stock shot up more than 60% after the Seattle-based biotech company reported promising results from its COVID-19 drug treatment.
The company said six COVID-19 patients in Italy with acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS, recovered and were discharged from the hospital after being treated with Omeros’ drug narsoplimab. The patients initially required mechanical ventilation. Omeros is now in talks with U.S. government agencies to expand the availability of narsoplimab.
“The patients that we treated with narsoplimab were critically ill, and the uniformly successful outcomes were truly impressive,” Professor Rambaldi, a doctor at the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, said in a statement. “Also of importance in this terribly sick population studied, the drug was well tolerated, showing no adverse effects.”
Founded in 1994, Omeros is one of Seattle’s largest biotech companies and went public in 2009. Revenue was down and losses grew in the second quarter due to postponements of cataract procedures. The company’s stock was down slightly Tuesday morning, trading at around $19/share.
“The work at Papa Giovanni, for the first time, puts many of the COVID-19 pieces together – endothelial injury and the pathophysiology of COVID-19, complement activation and clinical evidence of the potential therapeutic role of the lectin pathway inhibitor narsoplimab in treating this disease,” Gregory Demopulos, chairman and CEO of Omeros, said in a statement. “We look forward to being able to make narsoplimab broadly available to hospitalized COVID-19 patients.”
