Immunovant's treatment for eye disease fails in late-stage trials

By Sneha S K

April 2 (Reuters) - Immunovant IMVT.O said on Thursday that its therapy failed to reduce eye bulging when tested in patients with moderate-to-severe thyroid eye disease in two late-stage studies.

Shares of the company were down 4.8% at $23.89.

The results do not support further progress in thyroid eye disease, said Matt Gline CEO of Roivant ROIV.O, Immunovant's parent company, during a call with analysts.

The studies were testing its experimental therapy batoclimab in the autoimmune disorder that commonly causes proptosis or eye bulging and eye irritation. In severe cases it can also lead to double vision or vision loss.

The company said the studies failed to meet the main goal of an at least 2 millimeter reduction in eye bulging after 24 weeks, following 12 weeks of high-dose and 12 weeks of low-dose batoclimab treatment.

Batoclimab is designed to help the body clear harmful antibodies by blocking a protein that normally keeps them in circulation.

Safety results were consistent with previous findings, Immunovant said.

Immunovant plans to focus future development on its other experimental therapy IMVT-1402, across multiple autoimmune diseases, and said batoclimab for thyroid eye disease is not a key focus area.

The company intends to review future plans for the development of batoclimab with its partner HanAll Biopharma and provide an update on the program at a future date.

On Monday, Viridian Therapeutics' VRDN.O experimental treatment for thyroid eye disease lagged rivals in efficacy in a late-stage study.