Announced successful drug trials boost micro cap Equillium by 33%
Shares of biotech micro cap Equillium soared 33% yesterday, Thursday, February 6, although some of the gains have been lost before the opening bell today. The company announced that its drug for ulcerative colitis, which it is testing together with Indian pharmaceutical giant Biocon, has shown results that are no worse than the standard of care for the disease. The therapy is Equillium’s lead candidate to get to market.
Details
Equillium jumped 33% on the Nasdaq yesterday to close at $0.94 per share, marking the highest close since the end of October. During premarket trading today, however, it has given back more than 12% as of this writing. A broader snapshot reveals the stock has risen 26% since the beginning of 2025 but is down 38% over the last 12 months.
Yesterday, Equillium announced upbeat data from phase II clinical trials (the second of three) of its drug itolizumab for patients with ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune disease that affects the large intestine.
The trial involved 90 patients, who were divided into three groups: One group received itolizumab, the second placebo, and the third adalimumab, a drug described by Equillium as the global standard for treating ulcerative colitis. Notably, the itolizumab group included more patients with severe forms of the disease.
After 12 weeks, the clinical remission rate (i.e., symptom alleviation) in the itolizumab group was 23.3%, versus 20.0% in the third, standard treatment group and 10.0% in the second, placebo group. A subsequent colonoscopy showed that Equillium’s drug and the standard treatment both achieved an actual remission rate of 16.7%, versus only 6.7% in the placebo group.
The study was sponsored by Equillium and India’s Biocon and was conducted in India. Note that Biocon originally developed itolizumab, the commercial rights to which Equillium later acquired.
What Equillium does
Equillium specializes in drugs for severe autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Itolizumab is its lead candidate to get to market, and the company is testing it for several indications.
For instance, Equillium is in phase III clinical trials to evaluate the drug’s ability to prevent rejection of donor organs. The trials were conducted in partnership with Japan’s Ono Pharmaceutical, which held an option to purchase the rights to itolizumab. It eventually decided to let the option expire, as Equillium announced on October 31. Although Equillium assured investors that the decision had nothing to do with progress of trials, its stock price collapsed the following day.
Itolizumab may also be used for lupus and lupus nephritis, the latter affecting roughly half of all lupus patients, according to the company. For this indication, the drug is in phase I trials.
Analyst insights
According to MarketWatch, Equillium has only two analyst ratings — one «buy» and one «hold.» The average target price between them is $3.00 per share, implying 200% upside versus the current market price.
