Altimmune Inc. (ALT) shares plummeted 38.18% in after-hours on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, and closed at $9.83 per share. Earlier in the morning session, ALT’s stock lost 2.45% to close Tuesday’s session at $15.90. ALT shares have risen 52.59% over the last 12 months, and they have moved up 2.19% in the past week. Over the past three months, the stock has gained 17.34%, while over the past six months, it has lost 43.24%.

The disappointing outcome of AdCOVID™ Phase 1 Clinical Trial

On June 29, 2021, Altimmune, Inc provided an update on its AdCOVID investigational vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19. The Company also provided an update on its T-COVID Phase 1/2 clinical trial to evaluate the potential of T-COVID to prevent clinical worsening in patients with early COVID-19.

80 healthy adult volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55 took part in Phase 1 AdCOVID clinical trial. The volunteers received either 1 or 2 doses of AdCOVID as a nasal spray at 3 dose levels.

The data showed lower than expected immune responses for each of the immune parameters tested. The magnitude of the response and the percent of subjects responding to AdCOVID were substantially lower than what had been demonstrated for other vaccines already authorized for emergency use.

Due to poor trial 1 results, Altimmune is discontinuing further development of AdCOVID beyond the completion of this Phase 1 trial.

Positive Interim Data from ALT-801 Phase 1 Trial

On June 16, 2021, Altimmune, Inc announced results from a prespecified 6-week interim analysis of its ongoing 12-week, Phase 1, placebo-controlled, single and multiple ascending dose trial of ALT-801, an investigational GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist, in healthy overweight and obese volunteers. The study is currently being conducted in Australia under a clinical trial application.

The results showed that a mean weight loss of 5.4% was achieved by Week 6 with a once-weekly ALT-801 dose of 1.8 mg compared to a weight gain of 0.9% in the placebo group.

Recent financial results

On May 17, 2021, Altimmune, Inc released its financial results for the three months ending March 31, 2021.

Q1 2021 financial highlights

• Altimmune reported revenue of $0.8 million for Q1 2021 compared to $2.2 million inQ1 2020.
• The company spent $11.9 million in research and development expenses in Q1 2021 compared to $7.2 million in Q1 2020.
• General and administrative expenses were $3.8 million in Q1 2021 compared to $2.3 million in Q1 2020.
• The company suffered a net loss of $14.9 million, or $0.38 net loss per share in Q1 2021, compared to $3.9 million, or $0.26 net loss per share in Q1 2020.
• As of March 31, 2021, Altimmune had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totalling $226.5 million compared to $216.0 million on December 31, 2020.

Conclusion

The poor trial one results of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate took the ALT stock to rock bottom. The plummeting can continue on Wednesday as well.