Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNCE) shares closed 9.87% higher on Friday to $11.13, still within the lower part of its 52-week range of $9.81 to $25.04.
Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNCE) shares dropped sharply at the start of May even after the company reported its CTP-543 drug for the treatment of alopecia areata. This is an autoimmune disease characterized by patchy or widespread hair loss, for which there is significant unmet medical need and currently no FDA-approved treatment. Phase 1 of development is set to begin this year but investors and analysts don’t seem too optimistic.
Zacks Investment Research recently downgraded Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNCE) shares from “hold” to “sell” as the company reported a loss of $13.9 million in its first quarter. It posted revenue of $56,000 in the period but reported a loss of $0.63 per share compared to $1.3 million for the same period in 2015.
Concert Pharmaceuticals is a a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of small molecule drugs, operating through the development of pharmaceutical products on its own behalf or in collaboration with others. It has several clinical candidates under development, including CTP-543.
“We are continuing to build a diverse pipeline based on our deuterium drug development platform as evidenced by our newest clinical candidate, CTP-543, for the treatment of alopecia areata,” said CEO and President of Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNCE) Roger Tung in the earnings conference call. “By year end, we expect to complete Phase 1 single and multiple ascending dose trials for CTP-543.”
Tung also added that the company plans to open an Investigational New Drug Application with CTP-656, our drug candidate for cystic fibrosis, to initiate a Phase 2 trial. However, costs have been piling up, as their earnings report also revealed that research and development expenses amounted $10.5 million in the first quarter of 2016 compared to $6.9 million for the same period in 2015, with the increase attributed mainly to expenses associated with the development of CTP-656 and CTP-543.
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