On its website, Celladon Corp. (NASDAQ: CLDN) writes “Hope to Heart Patients.” Not to sound morbid, but the company appears to have lost at least some hope – in terms of dollars – when it announced negative results in its Cupid2 trial of Mydicar for treatment of advanced heart failure.

This announcement was followed by a near cataclysmic 80% drop in its stock price.

As for the study, Cupid2 is a Phase 2b trial evaluating a single intracoronary infusion of the cardiovascular gene therapy agent Mydicar. In the study, there were 250 adult patients who had stable New York Heart Association class II to IV ischemic or non-ischemic heart failure despite optimal therapy, reduced left ventricular ejection fraction and a high risk for recurrent heart-failure hospitalizations.

The study enrolled only patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. The statistical analysis for the primary endpoint was performed on the modified intent to treat population, which comprised all patients who, after randomization, underwent cardiac catheterization and drug or placebo administration.

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Krisztina Zsebo, Ph.D., CEO of Celladon commented on the trial:

We are surprised and very disappointed that MYDICAR failed to meet the endpoints in the CUPID2 trial, and we are rigorously analyzing the data in an attempt to better understand the observed outcome. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our investigators and patients who participated in the study. At the same time we are evaluating our other programs in order to determine the best path forward to maximize shareholder value.

Prior to the announcement, a couple analysts had relatively positive outlooks for Celladon:

• BMO Capital markets initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating with a $15 price target.
• H.C. Wainright initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $31 price target.

Following the announcement a couple other analysts had something to say too:

• Wedbush downgraded Celladon to a Neutral rating and lowered its price target to $3 from $29.
• Roth Capital downgraded the company to a Neutral rating.

Shares of Celladon were down about 80% at $2.80 Monday morning, in a 52-week trading range of $2.76 to $28.25. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $32.17.

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