I always looked at Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) as the best drug stock play for atopic dermatitis – AD - market. The addressable market is in the billions and Regeneron is capturing a large part of it. Yet other small firms continue to explore drugs treating AD.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) both have sells under development. Dermira (NASDAQ:DERM) and Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) also have drugs in early clinical trials. Both firms are down sharply on the stock market.
Dermira is set to start a late-stage development of lebrikizumab. This study involves 800 subjects and targets IL-13. Regeneron’s Dupixent targets IL-4 and IL-13. So, if inhibiting just one pathway works, Dermira may have a product on the market.
Nektar, which plunged a few months ago after its NKTR-214 quality control issue, announced two early-stage NKTR-358 studies. One study is for psoriasis and the other is for atopic dermatitis. The AD study will have 40 subjects and works by activating regulatory T cells via targeting IL-2 receptor in the body.
NKTR and DERM stock are both high-risk plays. REGN stock offers more safety and stability but the former two could trend higher, just as Xbiotech (NASDAQ:XBIT) did, on the release of positive clinical news.
Disclosure: the author owns shares of AbbVie.
