Gossamer Bio’s stock falls 64% on findings for Phase 2 study for hypertension drug

Shares of Gossamer Bio Inc.
GOSS,
+2.99%
plunged 64.5% in premarket trading on Tuesday after Wall Street analysts questioned the performance of the company’s experimental hypertension drug in a Phase 2 clinical trial. Though Gossamer said the drug, seralutinib, met the primary endpoint in a Phase 2 clinical trial, SVB Securities analyst Joseph Schwartz told investors that the therapy didn’t outperform Merck & Co. Inc.’s
MRK,
-0.03%
sotatercept. “We expect the street to be disappointed in these topline results given both endpoints fell below the [Phase 2] placebo-adjusted data from sotatercept,” he wrote in a note. “We note that the topline data also fell below our base case expectation for seralutinib vs. placebo to show a 20% to 30%” reduction in pulmonary vascular resistance. Gossamer’s stock is down 17.8% this year, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-1.79%
has declined 16.1%.