Benzinga | Aug 4, 2020 02:59AM EDT

Alterity Therapeutics Shares Surge As Company Says Animal Testing Data Positive For MSA Drug

The shares of Alterity Therapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ:ATHE) advanced in the after-hours session trading in New York on Monday and in the regular session in Sydney on Tuesday.

What Happened: The surge came as Alterity Therapeutics reported positive data from an animal testing of ATH434 its leading drug candidate for Multiple System Atrophy, a Parkinsonian disorder.

The new data "independently confirm and extend previous findings demonstrating that ATH434 reduces -synuclein pathology, preserves neurons, and improves motor performance," Alterity Therapeutics noted.

Why It Matters: The Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company in June said it had reached an agreement with the United States Food and Drug Administration on the non-clinical investigations required to support the second phase of its clinical trial of ATH434.

The FDA had also agreed on the company's design for the Phase 2 study, it claimed.

What's Next: Alterity Therapeutics noted that the data from the latest study will be presented at the 2020 International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in September and at the American Neurological Association's 2020 Annual Meeting in October.

Price Action: The company's shares closed 38.24% up at $0.034 in Sydney on Tuesday, with an intraday high of $0.041.

Alterity Therapeutics shares closed 10.37% higher at $1.49 in the after-hours session in New York on Monday.