Why Infinity Pharmaceuticals Crashed

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 6:49AM EST · Published Jun 14, 11:15AM EDT

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Why Infinity Pharmaceuticals Crashed — © Thinkstock

Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) saw perhaps making the biggest drop in the market on Tuesday, with shares plummeting by over two-thirds following a clinical mid-stage trial update. Though the company announced that its DYNAMO study met its primary endpoint of overall response rate, the stock was still way down on the day for other reasons.

In the study, duvelisib demonstrated an overall response rate of 46%, all of which were partial responses, among 129 patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL). The majority of reported side effects were reversible and clinically manageable.

The study is a registration-focused Phase 2 monotherapy study evaluating the efficacy and safety of duvelisib, an investigational, oral, dual inhibitor of phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)-delta and PI3K-gamma, in patients with refractory iNHL.

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Now, for the bad news, AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) has an ongoing collaborative discussion with Infinity to explore next steps for the parties’ collaboration with duvelisib. Considering the resolution of these business discussions, AbbVie and Infinity also have agreed to pause the AbbVie-sponsored Phase 1b/2 study evaluating duvelisib in combination with venetoclax.

At the same time, Infinity is also undertaking a strategic restructuring that will close down its discovery research organization, affecting 46 members of the Infinity team, or roughly 21% of the workforce.

Going forward, the company also mentioned that its previously financial guidance for 2016 should not be relied up.

Adelene Perkins, president and CEO of Infinity, commented:

While the DYNAMO study met its primary endpoint, we hoped that treatment with duvelisib as a monotherapy would have provided a larger clinical benefit for patients with advanced indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a difficult-to-treat disease. We plan to seek feedback from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine our next steps with respect to duvelisib in indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Shares of Infinity were last seen down roughly 70% at $1.35, with a consensus analyst price target of $12.50 and a 52-week trading range of $1.33 to $11.78.

AbbVie shares were down 0.6% to $59.56. The consensus price target is $70.00, and a 52-week range is $45.45 to $71.60.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.