Crinetics Pharma's paltusotine achieves all goals in Phase III acromegaly trial

Shares of US drug developer Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CRNX) shot up more than 66%% to $26.60 pre-market, after its experimental treatment for a rare hormonal disorder not only succeeded, but performed better than Wall Street expectations.

Crinetics noted that paltusotine, an oral, once-daily investigational compound, achieved positive results by meeting the primary endpoint and all secondary endpoints of the Phase III PATHFNDR-1 study.

PATHFNDR-1 was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 36-week treatment period followed by an optional open-label extension study evaluating paltusotine in participants with acromegaly switching from standard-of-care injected depot somatostatin analogs. The study enrolled participants with acromegaly who were biochemically controlled on octreotide or lanreotide depot monotherapy. PATHFNDR-1 is one of two ongoing, placebo-controlled Phase III studies of once-daily, oral paltusotine.