New York, May 28, 2026, 18:03 EDT
- Apogee shares steadied late Thursday. The stock had fallen earlier on its eczema-drug data.
- Blackstone Life Sciences will offer as much as $1.3 billion to fund zumilokibart through late-stage development.
- Investors want to see if the mid-dose picked for Phase 3 can stack up to approved eczema treatments from Regeneron/Sanofi and Eli Lilly.
Apogee Therapeutics stock was flat late Thursday, ticking up 22 cents to $77.82. Investors kept sizing up a big cash injection from Blackstone, while fresh data on Apogee’s top eczema drug stayed in the mix. The biotech, listed on Nasdaq, showed a market cap near $5.42 billion. Volume topped 1.2 million shares.
Apogee is moving out of the “promising mid-stage story” phase and into late-stage drug development, with outside capital now secured. Blackstone Life Sciences has agreed to invest up to $1.3 billion, structured as up to $800 million in a synthetic royalty—cash up front for a piece of future sales—and as much as $500 million in senior debt. Apogee Therapeutics, Inc.
That’s key now as Apogee said it will use the money and its $1.3 billion cash pile to fund development and possible commercialization of zumilokibart, with no need for more equity financings. The company won’t have to issue new shares right away since it’s non-dilutive funding, important in biotech after shares rise.
Zumilokibart, or APG777, hit its main target in a Phase 2 trial of 346 patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema. Phase 2 measures if a drug does enough on effect and safety to move to larger Phase 3 trials. For this study, EASI-75 was defined as at least a 75% drop in a standard eczema severity score.
Mid dose came out on top. Apogee said 65.9% of patients given the mid dose reached EASI-75 after 16 weeks, with 61.6% on the high dose, 50.5% on low, and 23.4% on placebo. The company aims to advance the mid dose into Phase 3 in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory talks.
Apogee CEO Michael Henderson dismissed worries that the high dose failed to outperform the mid dose. “Some people might have wanted to see the high dose,” he told Reuters. But he said the mid dose “created a very clear choice,” and Apogee sees “a clear path forward” for zumilokibart as a lead treatment in atopic dermatitis. Reuters
Blackstone is betting on the drug’s promise. Nicholas Galakatos, global head of Blackstone Life Sciences, said the firm will support Apogee through Phase 3 and, if it gets that far, commercialization. Kiran Reddy, a senior managing director at Blackstone Life Sciences, described it as “the largest royalty financing for a pre-Phase 3 program to date.” Apogee Therapeutics, Inc.
The competitive field isn’t easy. Zumilokibart will have to stack up against drugs like Dupixent from Regeneron and Sanofi and Eli Lilly’s Ebglyss, both approved for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. TD Cowen analyst Tyler Van Buren told BioPharma Dive the Apogee data looked strong against Dupixent and Ebglyss in cross-trial reads, though he noted those comparisons are tricky. “This sets a new bar,” Van Buren said, according to BioPharma Dive.
Apogee is pitching fewer dosing days. It says patients in its trial got four dosing days in the 16-week induction period, versus nine with the existing standard of care. The company’s next step is to look at maintenance dosing spaced out to every three or six months. “Durable and deeper disease control with less frequent dosing” is what patients and doctors want, Ruth Ann Vleugels of Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School said. BioPharm International
Apogee shares dropped almost 6% on Wednesday after the news, as investors didn’t see the update as straightforward. Citi’s Geoff Meacham said in a note that with the high dose trailing the mid dose, the data looked mixed and this could pressure the stock. The company in a filing pointed out uncertainties around dose selection, regulatory feedback, trial timing, and approvals.
Apogee is setting up for its next major steps. The company plans to start two Phase 3 monotherapy studies and another Phase 3 trial with topical corticosteroids in the second half of 2026. Initial 16-week monotherapy results are due in the first half of 2028. A launch could come in 2029 if the program works as planned.
Management’s next investor events are Jefferies Global Healthcare on June 3 and the Goldman Sachs healthcare meeting on June 10. Shareholders get more chances to question Henderson’s team on dose selection, Blackstone economics, and whether the latest optimism is already in the shares.
