Biopharmaceutical company, Versartis Inc (NASDAQ:VSAR) saw its shares take a deep dive on Friday premarket after it revealed that its human growth hormone drug failed to meet its primary endpoint in a Phase III non-inferiority trial.
In a statement, the company said somavaratan, which seeks to treat growth-hormone deficiency, failed to demonstrate superiority to Genotropin, a drug from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) in a study focusing on pediatric growth-hormone deficiency.
Corporate update later this year
"We are very surprised and disappointed to learn the outcome ..," chief executive Jay Shepard said in Thursday's announcement.
"Somavaratan showed height velocity in the range we had hoped, but it was not sufficient to demonstrate non-inferiority in this trial," Shepard said, adding, "we have done an initial analysis of the top-line data and are continuing to thoroughly review the results to gain greater insight into the trial outcome."
He said the company will be issuing a corporate update later this year.
In premarket, its shares plunged 84.95% at US$3.25.