Anacor rockets on positive Phase III result with crisaborole

Anacor Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ANAC) saw its shares leap 57% to $133.02 in pre-market trading after it revealed that its crisaborole cleared eczema skin rash better than a placebo.

The company today announced preliminary top-line results from its two Phase III pivotal studies of crisaborole topical ointment, 2% (formerly AN2728), a novel non-steroidal topical anti-inflammatory phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) inhibitor in development for the potential treatment of mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis in children and adults.

In both studies, crisaborole achieved statistically significant results on all primary and secondary endpoints and demonstrated a safety profile consistent with previous studies. After one month of treatment, 32.8% and 31.4% of patients responded to crisaborole in the two studies compared to 25.4% and 18% of patients in the control arm. The difference in responses in both studies was statistically significant favoring crisaborole.