Promising liver data triggers spike in Raptor shares

Novato, CA-based Raptor Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: RPTP) scored a big hit with investors this morning. The biotech saw its shares surge 29 percent on the news that a tiny mid-stage study produced promising enzyme data for liver disease. The Phase IIa study of delayed-release cysteamine bitartrate recruited only 11 adolescent patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with high levels of two enzymes that serve as key biomarkers of liver disease. Seven of the 11 demonstrated a sharp drop in their...