Annovis Bio Shares Cut In Half Following Alzheimer's Data Presentation

Annovis Bio, Inc. ANVS, which took off on a strong rally in January, has quickly lost most of the gains.

What To Know: Annovis, a clinical-stage neurodegenerative diseases-focused biopharma, presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference new clinical and biomarker data from two Phase 2 studies of its lead compound ANVS401 in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Annovis went public in early 2020, offering 2 million shares in an initial public offering, priced at $6 per share. The stock was mostly rangebound around its IPO price in 2020. Its lead candidate is ANVS401, and it's also developing ANVS405, which is the same compound as ANVS401 but meant to be administered intravenously in cases of acute head and brain trauma.

A third asset ANVS301 is in preclinical development for later stages of Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Much of the gains in Annovis stock this year have been on continuing news flow on ANVS401. A huge leap came in late May when the company reported positive Phase 2 data for ANVS401, showing it improved cognition in Alzheimer's disease.

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AAIC Presentation Raises Doubts: Efficacy measured in Alzheimer's disease patients using the ADAS-Cog11 showed that ANVS401 failed to show statistically significant difference versus placebo, 25 days following the treatment, according to presentation file posted by the company on its website.

Efficacy in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease patients using the mini-mental state examination test showed placebo faring better than ANVS401.

The not-so-encouraging data sent investors scurrying out of the stock.

Although Biogen, Inc. BIIB managed to get approval for its Aduhelm to treat Alzheimer's, controversies are still raging over the propriety of the FDA approval process. Wary investors, therefore, may prefer cashing out of the stock until Annovis can produce more concrete evidence for the efficacy of ANVS401.

At last check, Annovis shares were down 55% at $49.51.