eFFECTOR Therapeutics Shares Fall After Data From COVID-19 Treatment Trial

eFFECTOR Therapeutics Inc EFTR announced top-line results from its Phase 1b clinical trial of zotatifin for COVID-19 infection.
The data demonstrated favorable safety results and positive trends in several measures of antiviral activity.
eFFECTOR also presented preclinical data demonstrating the breadth of zotatifin's activity against RNA viruses.
Zotatifin was generally well tolerated at all doses, with injection site reactions from the subcutaneous route (all Grade 1 or 2) being the only adverse event showing a potential relationship to zotatifin dose.
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Trends in antiviral activity favoring zotatifin over placebo were seen by several assessments. In saliva, virus level undetectability (VLU) was achieved approximately twice as fast in the zotatifin-treated subjects compared to placebo, with a median time to VLU of 3 days for zotatifin vs. 7 days for placebo.
eFFECTOR also presented results from preclinical studies in which zotatifin was active against numerous COVID isolates and other coronaviruses.
It was 10-100 times more potent than several agents authorized by the FDA for the treatment of COVID, based on concentrations required to achieve comparable reductions in virus yield and protection from virus-induced cytopathic effects in cell-based assays.
Price Action: EFTR shares are down 17.40% at $0.51 during the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.