Why Shares of 89bio Soared This Week

Shares of clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company 89bio (NASDAQ: ETNB) were up 36.2% for the week as of Friday morning, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The stock is up more than 326% over the past 12 months. It closed last week at $12.44 and hit its 52-week high of $18.03 on Thursday.

The healthcare company, which focuses on therapies to treat liver and cardio-metabolic diseases, released positive news regarding its lead therapy, pegozafermin. In a phase 2b study, a weekly 44-milligram dose and a weekly 30-mg dose of the drug both met the primary endpoints in treating patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a disease that causes the liver to swell and be damaged.

According to the American Liver Foundation, NASH affects about 1.5% to 6.5% of U.S. adults, roughly between 9 million and 15 million people. There are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs to treat NASH.

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Source Fool.com