You gotta love biotechs. Investors that actively trade upstarts are well aware (at least they should be if they’re trading them) the potential of massive volatility. Such is certainly the case with Ocera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCRX), a stock that jettisoned 70.7 percent of its value on January 30 on its experimental drug for Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE) failing to outperform placebo, is finding strength Wednesday morning on additional analysis of the trial data.
Potentially fatal, HE is the occurrence of confusion, altered consciousness and coma due to liver failure that allows toxic substances to accumulate in the bloodstream.
Ocera said today that it will be presenting “additional encouraging results” from the Phase 2b trial of OCR-002 in HE patients at the Cowen and Company 37th Annual Healthcare Conference at 11:20 AM ET. The data is generating a buzz ahead of the presentation due to OCR-002 quickly and safely lowering ammonia levels in the OCR-002-treated population. Importantly, the drop in ammonia in plasma was directly correlated with clinical improvement.
The additional data also pointed to more positives for the intravenous drug over placebo, such as improvement in renal function as gauged by blood urea nitrogen levels and a clinical benefit according to the Physician Overall Evaluation, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease scores.
This information suggests that some different trial parameters and dose optimization could possibly improve outcomes in additional, likely late-stage, clinical trials.
On the news in January, shares of OCRX plunged $1.45 to close at $0.60. In morning action today, shares have by no means recovered all those losses, but they are ahead a whopping 79.3% at $1.07 about 90 minutes into the trading session.
