Immunovant plunges nearly 50% after pausing a trial for its eye drug after unexpected cholesterol finding

• Shares of Immunovant plunged nearly 50% on Tuesday after the company announced a voluntary pause in its ongoing clinical trials for IMVT-1401.
• The drug, which is meant to cure thyroid eye disease, is the company's sole experimental candidate.
• The company said it will work with regulators and experts and will continue to pursue the development of the drug.
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Shares of biopharmaceutical company Immunovant fell by as much as 47% on Tuesday after the company announced a voluntary pause in its ongoing clinical trials for IMVT-1401, the company's sole experimental candidate, following findings of elevated cholesterol levels in trial participants.

IMVT-1401 is meant to cure thyroid eye disease, also known as Graves' ophthalmopathy.

The New York-based company decided to pause "out of an abundance of caution" after finding "a physiological signal consisting of elevated total cholesterol and LDL levels" in treated patients of its Phase 2b trial. Cholesterol levels were not measured in previous trials by the company.

The company also said it will work with regulators and experts in pursuing the development of the drug.

As of September 20, 2020, the company said it has approximately $444 million in cash.

Shares of Immunovant were trading at $26.00 as of 12:52PM E.T. on Tuesday.