Vera Therapeutics 'positive' top-line Phase IIb data on atacicept fail to impress investors

Shares of US biotech firm Vera Therapeutics (Nasdaq: VERA) nose-dived in after-hours trading on Tuesday, after it announced what it described as “positive” the Phase IIb ORIGIN clinical trial of atacicept in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), which met its primary endpoint.

Nevertheless, Vera’s shares plummeted almost 63% to $6.85 in after-hours, as investor digested the results, where two lower doses, however, failed to move the needle on their own.

Heading into these results, a major investor debate was on the preferred approach, either dual APRIL/BLyS inhibition with atacicept, or the targeted APRIL approach with Chinook Therapeutics’ (Nasdaq: KDNY) BION-1301, according to SVB Securities analyst Joseph Schwartz. He does not expect this debate to fade following the Vera readout; however, and thinks the results will add some uncertainty to the dual mechanism approach, given the largely disappointing proteinuria reduction seen with atacicept