Before the MHRA announcement, analysts at Jefferies said in a note to clients Thursday evening that lenzilumab “is well positioned for winning an EUA approval in hospitalized Covid patients,” adding that Humanigen’s stock could move up by 60% to 80% if approved, though the downside is limited to minus 20% to 30% if a larger safety data set or additional trial are requested by the FDA.
As it was, Humanigen shares were up 10% premarket Friday morning.
If approved, lenzilumab could serve a set of hospitalized patients who have proven difficult to treat with other COVID-19 drugs. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have struggled in the population, potentially because in hospitalized COVID-19 patients the immune response is as much of a factor as the virus itself. Researchers have tested other drugs designed to tamp down immune responses, including Roche’s Actemra and Sanofi’s Kevzara, with mixed results.
Analysts at Cantor have already predicted blockbuster sales, with Jefferies noting that with the delta variant hitting countries like the U.K., Israel and now the U.S., all three of which have high vaccine uptake, this means COVID may well become like flu and still require a high level of treatment outside of inoculation.
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