NEW YORK – Sera Prognostics stock closed up 73 percent on Wednesday as the company announced positive study results for its PreTRM protein test for assessing risk of preterm birth.
Shares of the Salt Lake City-based company closed Wednesday at $2.27 per share, up 73 percent from Tuesday's closing price of $1.31. The firm's stock rose as much as 89 percent during the day while roughly 57.5 million shares of Sera's shares traded hands Wednesday, more than 2,000 times the company's 52-week average volume of 28,000. On Thursday morning trading on Nasdaq, Sera shares were $2.15, down 5 percent from Wednesday's closing price.
The stock jump came on investor excitement over the PreTRM test study results. According to the company, the study met endpoints for its two primary outcomes, "reduction of severe neonatal morbidity or neonatal death; and decreased length of neonatal hospital stay," when individuals were managed with a test-and-treat approach using the PreTRM test. These improvements were statistically significant, Sera said.
The company added that it is now preparing results from the study, called the AVERT PRETERM TRIAL, for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. The AVERT trial looked at 1,453 pregnant women who were assessed for preterm birth risk using the test with those deemed at high risk given interventions to improve the outcome of their pregnancy. Outcomes in these women were compared to historical data from roughly 10,000 women.
Sera's PreTRM test is a blood-based biomarker test for predicting the risk of a preterm birth. The test uses the ratio of two proteins, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 4 to sex hormone-binding globulin, to predict preterm birth risk. The company went public in July 2021, offering its stock at $16 per share.
In a note to investors, William Blair analyst Andrew Brackmann said the results help "de-risk" the expected readout later this year of data from Sera's PRIME study, a multicenter, prospective, randomized trial evaluating the test and its ability to improve outcomes in high-risk pregnancies. The bank maintained its Outperform rating for Sera's stock.