Achieve Life Sciences’ stock rockets on positive study results for smoking cessation drug

Shares of Achieve Life Sciences Inc.
ACHV,
+2.09%
shot up 31% to pace all premarket gainers Thursday, after the clinical-stage pharmaceutical company announced positive results from a study of its smoking cessation drug. Volume of 509,000 shares ahead of the open was already more than five times the full-day average. The company said the study evaluated the bioavailability of a new formulation of 3 milligram cytisine under fed and fasted conditions. “Study results demonstrated bioequivalence when cytisine was administered with or without food,” the company said in a statement. “Cytisine was extensively absorbed after oral administration with maximum cytisine concentration levels observed in the blood within less than two hours with or without food.” The stock has tumbled 33% over the past three months, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-1.48%
has gained 7.6%.