Benzinga | Mar 5, 2021 06:00AM EST

Apellis Pharmaceuticals To Stop Testing APL-9 In Severe COVID-19 Patients

* Following an interim review of mortality data by an independent data monitoring committee (DMC), Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: APLS) will not pursue additional development of APL-9 for the treatment of severe COVID-19.

* DMC reviewed data from the Phase 1/2 study of APL-9 found no meaningful reduction in the overall mortality rate in APL-9 combined with the standard of care arm, compared to standard of care alone.

* No safety signals were observed. No additional endpoints were analyzed as part of the interim review by the DMC.

* Apellis plans to provide full results in a scientific forum following the completion of the full data analysis.

* APL-9 is designed to control the complement cascade centrally at C3 and may potentially treat a range of diseases caused by excessive or uncontrolled activation of complement.

* Price Action: APLS shares closed 0.3% higher at $45.65 on Thursday.