Famed Short Seller Muddy Waters Targets Chinook Therapeutics, Points To Drug Data Questions

Muddy Waters, a prominent short seller, has announced its short position on Chinook Therapeutics Inc KDNY, citing significant doubts about the company's lead product candidate, atrasentan.

The report expresses skepticism about the drug's efficacy in treating chronic kidney disease and raises concerns about its impact on patients' cardiovascular health. Chinook Therapeutics didn't immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.

The report suggests that atrasentan has shown no statistically significant impact on the progression to end-stage renal disease in the largest available study. Any differences in Urinary Albumin to Creatinine Ratio (UACR) and systolic blood pressure between atrasentan and placebo patients vanished post-trial, raising questions about the drug's efficacy in slowing renal decline.

Muddy Waters also expressed concerns about potential health risks related to the drug's probable hemodynamic effect.

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There were also concerns about atrasentan's safety, Muddy Waters said. The drug reportedly poses health risks, especially to older and more fragile patients such as those with diabetic kidney disease. Data from the SONAR trial reportedly show a greater numerical difference in heart failure between atrasentan and placebo groups than the numerical difference in patients' progression to end-stage renal disease.

The report also points out a statistically significant increase in anemia rate among atrasentan patients and higher mortality compared to the placebo group in the double-blind period of the SONAR trial.

In addition, the report accuses both AbbVie Inc ABBV and Chinook of manipulating research findings and presentations on atrasentan to obscure these trial results. Muddy Waters alleges that AbbVie distorted graphs to modify the apparent effect of atrasentan, while Chinook is accused of misleading investors about the number of patients in which atrasentan was trialed.

Even if atrasentan were proven efficacious and safe, Muddy Waters argues that it would face significant competition from sparsentan, a drug that has received accelerated and exclusive orphan drug approval by the US FDA for IgA nephropathy, the same condition targeted in Chinook’s only Phase 3 trial, the ALIGN study.

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This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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