Will Liquidia's PRINT Make An Imprint?

(RTTNews) - Shares of Liquidia Technologies Inc. (LQDA), which recently debuted on Nasdaq, are down more than 40% from their latest high.

Liquidia is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company developing human therapeutics using its proprietary PRINT technology.

The PRINT technology, which is a particle engineering platform, enables precise production of uniform drug particles designed to improve the safety, efficacy and performance of the therapies.

The Company has two product candidates in its pipeline:

-- LIQ861 for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH, under phase III trial, dubbed INSPIRE. -- LIQ865 for the treatment of local post-operative pain, which completed a phase Ia clinical trial in Denmark in March 2017, and a phase Ib clinical trial in the United States in April 2018.

LIQ861

Pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH, is a rare, progressive disease that results in right heart failure. Prostacyclin medications are widely used for the treatment of PAH.

LIQ861, which is designed to overcome the limitations of the Prostacyclin medications, is a dry powder treprostinil that can be delivered using a convenient, palm-sized, disposable dry powder inhaler (DPI).

The Company's INSPIRE trial, initiated in January of this year, has enrolled 109 patients - with enrollment having been completed for the safety portion of the trial.

The two-week safety data readout from the phase III trial of LIQ861 (INSPIRE) is anticipated in the first quarter of 2019.

LIQ865

LIQ865 is an injectable, sustained-release formulation of bupivacaine for the management of local post-operative pain for three to five days after a procedure.

Although the FDA-approved long-acting local anesthetic, liposomal bupivacaine provides a well-established, non-opioid option for post-operative pain management, its pain relief is said to typically last only 24 to 36 hours.

LIQ865, which is based on the PRINT technology, is designed to release bupivacaine over three to five days through a single administration, according to the Company.

The safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic results from the phase Ia study of LIQ865 in healthy volunteers are scheduled to be presented on November 16, 2018.

The phase II-enabling toxicology studies for LIQ865 for the treatment of local post-operative pain are expected to be initiated this quarter.

Liquidia went public on the Nasdaq Capital Market on July 26, 2018, offering its shares at a price of $11 each. The shares, which touched a high of $38.46 in intraday trading on October 9, have retraced some gains. However, the stock closed Wednesday's trading at $22.15, up 14.65%.