MoonLake's nanobody clears Phase III test, but shares slip

Swiss biotech firm MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (Nasdaq: MLTX) said on Monday that sonelokimab met all clinical endpoints at week 16 in the Phase III IZAR-1 trial in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Shares fell about 5% on the day, as the company held back the one comparison investors were waiting for.

IZAR-1 enrolled biologic-naive adults with active disease. Some 42.1% of those given sonelokimab 60 mg with induction hit the primary endpoint of an ACR50 response, meaning at least a 50% improvement on American College of Rheumatology criteria. Among key secondary measures, 66.5% achieved ACR20 and 41.2% reached minimal disease activity.