Shares of biotech company Mesoblast Limited (NASDAQ: MESO) tanked on Friday after the company released discouraging news regarding the clinical trials of its COVID-19 treatment. As of 3:30 p.m. EST, the stock was down a painful 33% for the day. And it's now tumbled a whopping 54% from 52-week highs reached back in August.
Remestemcel-L is Mesoblast's solution to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a potentially deadly outcome from the coronavirus. Mesoblast had previously partnered with Novartis to bring remestemcel-L to market. However, in today's announcement, the Data Safety Monitoring Board said, while there aren't any safety concerns with the therapy, it's not on pace to hit its primary endpoint (the desired success rate). While Mesoblast and Novartis can complete the trial with the 223 patients already enrolled to collect more data, it won't expand trials to 300 as originally planned.
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Why Mesoblast Stock Plummeted on Friday