Gemphire Therapeutics shares plunge on forced termination of late-stage clinical trial              

08:28 10 Aug 2018                 
                    
 

Shares of Gemphire Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GEMP) dove sharply lower Friday after the biopharmaceutical group reported that a Phase 2a trial evaluating its drug gemcabene in pediatric patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was terminated due to “unanticipated problems.”

    The data and safety monitoring board at Emory University’s School of Medicine overseeing the trial recommended calling it quits on the late-stage study, citing trial participants’ poor reactions to the drug.         

    The announcement prompted a 54% drop in Gemphire’s shares, which fell to US$1.50, in Friday's pre-market session.

    Indeed, data on the first three patients who underwent 12 weeks of treatment as part of the study showed that all three experienced an increase in liver fat content, which was deemed an “unexpected problem” by the trial investigator as it demonstrated that the disease was worsening.

The other patients taking part in the trial, which began early in the year, have now been taken off of gemcabene.

    Emory’s Data and Safety Monitoring Board will provide Gemphire with a report of their examination of the trial’s failure once patient results have been analyzed.