October 10, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
As the Ebola crisis becomes more international in scope, physicians and public health officials are attempting treatment with experimental drugs. Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient who recently died in Dallas, was being treated with brincidofovir, an experimental compound developed by Durham, NC-based Chimerix, Inc. . Yesterday the company’s stock dropped almost 8 percent on news of Duncan’s death.
Chimerix is not the only company whose stock have rollercoastered after news of Ebola treatments. Tekmira , whose Ebola drug is TKM-Ebola, was used to treat Rick Sacra, an American physician flown from Liberia to Nebraska Medical Center for treatment. Sacra recovered, although it’s still unclear if use of the drug played a role or not. Tekmira’s stock jumped briefly after that news, then dropped as reality set in.
One reason physicians and the FDA have been more optimistic—or at least more willing to use—brincidofovir is that the drug is in late-stage testing for other viruses, specifically adenovirus and cytomegalovirus. The drug has been tested in over 1,000 patients. Its safety profile is understood, which is not the case of most other experimental Ebola treatments.
In a note, Piper Jaffray analyst Josh Schimmer, wrote, “Chimerix shares are likely to be (awkwardly) tracking the fate of the Ebola outbreak and treated patients. Unltimately, the utility of brin for treating Ebola and other diseases will be defined by animal models and potentially larger human clinical trials, as opposed to n=1 experiences.”
Another company leading the Ebola race is Mapp Biopharmaceuticals Inc. The company’s Ebola drug, ZMapp, was used in seven patients, two of whom died. Headquartered in San Diego, Mapp’s commercial arm LeafBio, Inc. ZMapp is developed out of tobacco leaves and the company had only seven doses available, although it is now ramping up production. Mapp Biopharmaceuticals is privately held.
Other companies whose stock cycle has been tied to Ebola are Cambridge, Mass.-based Sarepta Therapeutics and Research Triangle Park, NC-based BioCryst Pharmaceuticals . Sarepta’s stock jumped 8 percent on September 30th as the result of news about its Ebola therapeutic AVI-7537. BioCryst’s stock leapt 11.5 percent in after-hours trading around the same time. BioCryst has a compound under development for Ebola and another hemorrhagic fever, Marburg. The compound is BCX4430.
Approximately a dozen or more companies are involved in some R&D for Ebola, either antiviral drugs or potential vaccines. As news breaks regarding experimental treatments, each company’s stock is likely to undergo a boom-and-bust cycle that is as volatile as the Ebola virus itself.
