Here's Why Conatus Pharmaceuticals' Stock Surged 23%

Shares of Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc CNAT, a nano-cap biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of medicines to treat liver disease, surged higher by more than 22 percent on Wednesday.

Conatus Pharmaceuticals announced earlier in the day that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a Fast Track designation to the company's emricasan development program for the treatment of liver cirrhosis caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

The Fast Track designation provides greater access to the FDA to facilitate development and expedite reviews of drugs that have demonstrated the potential to treat serious and/or life-threatening conditions.

"The data from our recently completed Portal Hypertension trial, showing clinically meaningful reductions in hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) in patients with severe portal hypertension after only one month of treatment with emricasan, were a key component of our Fast Track submission," said Conatus co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Steven J. Mento, Ph.D. "The Fast Track designation formalizes the recognition of emricasan's potential to address a significant unmet medical need, but we believe its real importance is in the opportunity for even closer interactions with the FDA as we pursue the most efficient pathway to provide a potentially disease-modifying treatment to patients with NASH cirrhosis."