Durect downgraded to Neutral from Buy at H.C. Wainwright

H.C. Wainwright analyst Ed Arce downgraded Durect to Neutral from Buy without a price target. The analyst says topline results of the Phase 2b AHFIRM study of larsucosterol in patients with severe alcohol-associated hepatitis failed to reach statistical significance for either dose in both the primary and key secondary endpoints. The firm is disappointed by these results, and is unsure whether the FDA would be willing to accept 90-day mortality as the primary endpoint alone for a future Phase 3 study, without including transplant-free survival. In addition, the rationale of why larsucosterol may work in U.S. patients, but not in outside the U.S. patients, is unclear to us as well, says H.C. Wainwright.