Israeli company Sol-Gel Technologies (Nasdaq: SLGL) announced good results today in its Phase 3 clinical trials for its acne treatment Twyneo. The company carried out two simultaneous multi-center trials, and both achieved their primary endpoints. Sol-Gel will now apply for approval for the product, which will be its first independent drug on the market. It has previously brought several cosmetic products to the market, as well as product sin collaboration with other drug companies.
Assuming that the drug is approved for sale, it will meet another Israeli acne treatment, that of Foamix (Nasdaq: FOMX), which was approved a few months ago.
Sol-Gel's share price is currently up by about 90%, having been up 105% in early trading, giving the company a market cap of some $357 million.
Sol-Gel CEO Alon Seri-Levy said, "We look forward to submitting our NDA in the second half of 2020 and to working with the FDA through their review of our application, with a view to making Twyneo available to physicians and patients in the second half of 2021."
Sol-Gel says that, if approved, Twyneo has the potential to be the first acne vulgaris treatment to bring together benzoyl peroxide and a potent retinoid, tretinoin, in a once-daily cream, made possible by the company’s proprietary microencapsulation technology. These two products generally do not work well together, even if applied one after the other.
Sol-Gel has already made a mini exit. It sold its sunscreen products to Merck for $10 million, in order to focus on pharmaceuticals. It then got into financial difficulties, and was bought by Mori Arkin, who brought it to Nasdaq in February 2018, after which its share price fell 14%. The company also has a product for treatment of rosacea, which a few months ago achieved good results in a final trial before an application for approval. Here too, Sol-Gel is competing with Foamix, which has a market cap of $205 million.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 30, 2019
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