NephroGenex: A Significant Unmet Medical Need

• NephroGenex, Inc. NRX has seen a 44.76 percent decline in its share price over the past six months.
• Yi Chen of HC Wainwright & Co has initiated coverage of NephroGenex with a Buy rating and price target of $9.
• Chen believes that the stock is undervalued at present, given that Pyridorin trials have demonstrated efficacy and safety and that the drug candidate addressed an unmet medical need.

Pyridorin is a novel small molecule being developed for the treatment of kidney disease (nephropathy) in patients with Type 2 Diabetes. Usually, diabetes related nephropathy requires expensive and often hazardous procedures, such as dialysis and even transplant, in some cases. The current treatments are only marginally effective and do not address the cause of the nephropathy.

However, clinical data for Pyridorin has so far indicated that this oral product is successful in decreasing the rate of diabetic nephropathy, while delaying the onset of end stage renal disease. “This drug is currently being tested in a Phase 3 study with interim results expected around mid-2016,” the HC Wainwright report stated.

According to Chen, “Pyridorin’s 57% treatment effect and its benign safety profile could be demonstrated again in the Phase 3 program due to the consistent target patient population and a long-term stabilization period of current stand-of-care treatment prior to randomization.”

The ongoing PIONEER program for this drug candidate is under a Special Protocol Assessment and has been granted Fast Track designation by the FDA.