Regulus Therapeutics Stock Surges After 'promising' Hep C Drug Trial Results

Regulus Therapeutics Inc. stock surged nearly 40% in active pre-market trade Wednesday after the company reported positive results from a phase 2 study of a Hepatitis C treatment. Regulus said it will accelerate the Hepatitis C drug's development, given what CEO and President Paul Grint called its "promising potential to shorten treatment regimens." The company's RG-101 drug was injected at the beginning and end of the four-week treatment regimen, with patients also taking anti-viral agents throughout the month-long period. Nearly all of the 38 patients evaluated through eight weeks of follow-up saw the Hepatitis C virus reduced to very low levels, and all the patients saw the same result through 12 weeks of follow-up. Additional results from all 79 patients in the trial should emerge late in the second quarter, the company said.