Why Shares of uniQure Rose 14.61% on Wednesday
Shares of uniQure (NASDAQ: QURE) climbed 14.61% on Wednesday. The stock closed on Tuesday at $23, then opened on Wednesday at $23.76. It climbed as high as $26.38 before closing the day at $26.36. The stock has a 52-week low of $12.52 and a 52-week high of $30.41; it is up more than 27% so far this year.
The stock jumped after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on Tuesday, approved Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec-drlb), a one-time gene therapy for hemophilia B. It was developed by uniQure, but CSL will commercialize the therapy. It is considered a potential cure for the blood disease and is priced that way -- as much as $3.5 million per dose, making it the priciest therapy yet. Hemophilia B, also known as Christmas disease, is rare. The genetic disorder is caused by a missing or defective factor IX, a clotting protein. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show hemophilia affects roughly 1 in 5,000 births, but only a quarter of those are born with Hemophilia B.
In clinical trials, uniQure said Hemgenix lowered the rate of annual bleeds and that 94% of hemophilia B patients no longer needed factor IX prophylaxis after receiving Hemgenix.
Source Fool.com
