Why Eleven Biotherapeutics Is Making a Run

Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIO) watched its shares climb early on Monday morning following a key U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submission. The company announced that it submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial of EBI-031.

EBI-031 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that potently binds interleukin-6 (IL-6) and inhibits all known forms of IL-6 cytokine signaling, which may be effective for the treatment of ocular diseases such as diabetic macular edema (DME) and uveitis.

Basically, EBI-031 is for the treatment of DME and uveitis. Furthermore, EBI-031 was designed and engineered for intravitreal delivery using Eleven Bio’s AMP-Rx platform. EBI-031 is a potent blocker of both free IL-6 and IL-6 complexed to the soluble IL-6 receptor (IL-6R).

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Abbie Celniker, Ph.D., president and CEO of Eleven Bio, commented:

We are pleased to have this IND under review by the FDA. We look forward to providing additional details on the development of EBI-031 as a potential treatment for diseases of the eye, such as diabetic macular edema and uveitis, as they become available.

So far in 2016, Eleven Bio has underperformed the market, with the stock down 38% (excluding Monday’s move). Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is down 32%. However, the near term is a very different story — in just the past quarter alone the stock has risen over 450%.

Shares of Eleven Bio closed Friday up over 11% at $1.87, with a consensus analyst price target of $12.00 and a 52-week trading range of $0.25 to $8.00. Following the release, the stock was up more than 78% at $3.34 in early trading indications Monday.

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