Abivax SA (ABVX:NASDAQ), a European biotech company focused on creating therapeutic medicines to stabilize immune responses to chronic inflammatory diseases, announced on June 29, 2026, the results from its ABTECT Maintenance Part 2 study. This is the supplemental portion of its Phase 2 UC (ulcerative colitis) maintenance program aimed at evaluating obefazimod, its oral miR-124 enhancer, in adults with severely active UC.
The company indicated that Part 2 of its Phase 3 trial consisted of patients who had not had a clinical response following the start of treatment or those who had a relapse during the re-randomized Part 2 trial. In patients who showed no clinical response after 8 weeks of beginning treatment, the re-enrolled patients resulted in ". . . clinically meaningful rates of clinical, endoscopic, and combined histologic-endoscopic endpoints at Week 44." Patients who relapsed during Part 1 responded well to re-treatment with 50mg obefazimod and ". . . achieved clinical response and remission rates of 69.7% and 45.0%, respectively." Abivax asserted that these findings demonstrate that obefazimod could re-establish managed and flexible disease control following relapse.
Marc de Garidel, MBA and CEO of Abivax, said: "The results from ABTECT Maintenance Part 2 represent an important milestone in the clinical development of obefazimod, demonstrating meaningful clinical benefit in patients with highly refractory ulcerative colitis while substantially expanding our long-term safety database. Together with the unprecedented efficacy results from the ABTECT Phase 3 program, these findings build a comprehensive body of evidence supporting the potential of obefazimod to address significant unmet needs across a broad spectrum of patients living with ulcerative colitis."
In reference to the drug's future, Garidel said: "The expanded cumulative safety data further strengthens our confidence in the long-term safety profile of obefazimod and reinforces the favorable benefit-risk profile for our program as we prepare for our planned NDA submission later this year. We believe this growing body of evidence positions obefazimod, if approved, to become a paradigm-defining treatment option for patients living with ulcerative colitis."
Patients treated continuously with 50 mg obefazimod demonstrated the strongest outcomes across all endpoints, including clinical remission (37.2%), clinical response (61.5%), endoscopic improvement (48.0%), Histologic-Endoscopic Mucosal Improvement (44.6%), and endoscopic remission (34.5%). These findings suggest that a meaningful proportion of patients who do not initially respond to obefazimod may still derive substantial benefit from longer treatment exposure.
Remo Pannacione, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Director of the IBD Clinic at the University of Calgary, stated: "The ABTECT Maintenance Trial delivered compelling evidence supporting the clinical potential of obefazimod in ulcerative colitis. The robust efficacy results observed in both induction responders (Part 1) and induction non-responders (Part 2) demonstrate a consistent treatment effect across clinically important patient populations, while the expanding long-term safety dataset continues to provide reassurance, with observed rates of malignancies and non-melanoma skin cancers remaining consistent with expected background rates in ulcerative colitis. Collectively, these findings support a highly favorable benefit-risk profile and strengthen my confidence that obefazimod, if approved, has the potential to become an important new therapeutic option with the ability to meaningfully impact the treatment paradigm for patients with ulcerative colitis."
Sector Expected to Grow Over the Next Decade
At a CAGR of 6.2%, the global market for UC drugs is expected to grow to US$16.5 billion by the end of 2034. "UC is now considered a progressive disease owing to the risks of proximal extension, strictures, gut dysmotility, anorectal dysfunction, need for colectomy, hospitalization, colorectal cancer, disability, and impaired quality of life. Given its potentially progressive and debilitating disease course, the therapeutic goals for UC have changed over the past decade, from treating symptoms to mucosal healing, with the aim of modifying the natural history of the disease and improving long-term outcomes," wrote iHealthcareAnalyst Inc. on January 19, 2026.
In February 2026, Iqvia discussed the global pharma market projection for 2026, noting that total drug usage is expected to surpass four trillion doses daily by 2030. They wrote, "The largest drivers of medicine spending growth through the next five years will continue to be the use in developed markets of innovative therapeutics, especially in oncology, immunology, diabetes, and obesity."
Pharma sector funding fell between 2024 and 2025, according to a March 26, 2026, article for Fierce Biotech by Nick Paul Taylor. He wrote that pharma funding had fallen from 2024 but noted that, "2025 was still the third-best year of the past decade. Similarly, overall funding was well above the pre-pandemic norm and only topped by 2020, 2021, and 2024."
BCG talked about trends biopharma companies need to be aware of in 2026 in order to stay competitive, saying, "Near term, companies need to continue to innovate to decrease the complexity and cost of these therapies, and governments can find ways to incentivize and pay for them. The longer-term challenge for companies is to factor operational and economic considerations into R&D decision making earlier, ensuring that trial designs match real-world usage, indication sequences match opportunity, and endpoints enable market access."
Analysts Predicting Mixed Futures for Abivax
Multiple analysts weighed in on the company's press release, with Yale Jen, Ph.D., of Laidlaw & Company writing on June 29, 2026: "This post hoc analysis further strengthens our belief that obefazimod could be a best-in-class oral UC treatment with much superior efficacy and well-accepted safety profile." Jen gave Abivax a "Buy" rating, with a price target of US$160.
On June 30, Sam Slutsky and Kate Dellorusso, Ph.D., of LifeSci Capital gave Abivax an outperform rating, with a target price of US$170. "Our assumptions are as follows: obefazimod enters the market for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis in 2027, reaching 2039 global peak sales of US$4.2 nillion (risk-adjusted sales of US$3.8 billion). We currently assume a 90% probability of success with a net annual price at launch of US$78,000 in the U.S. (increased from US$66,000 prior based on recent management commentary)," they wrote.
Wedbush analyst David Nierengarten, Ph.D., was less optimistic, citing concerns "on how the FDA will view cancer risk associated with obefazimod. We also remain mindful of the possibility of a Black Box warning, which would limit commercial differentiation against JAK inhibitors and negatively position obefazimod against emerging classes in IBD, including TL1A inhibitors." Nierengarten reiterated a "Neutral" rating on Abvix, while raising its target price from US$90 to US$110.
According to Bezinga:
On June 2, 2026:
- BTG reiterated its "Buy" rating for the company and its price target of US$150.
- Citizens maintained its "Outperform" rating, while raising its price target from US$131 to US$187.
- Morgan Stanley maintained its "Overweight" rating but lowered its price target from US$145 to US$132.
- Jeffries downgraded its both its rating and price target, going from "Buy" to "Hold" and from a US$160 price target to US$90.
- Truist Securities maintained its "Buy" rating but lowered the price target from US$140 to US$135.
Then, on June 16, 2026, BTIG reiterated its "Buy" rating before raising its price target from US$150 to US$175 on June 30.
On June 30, 2026, Leerink Partners maintained its "Outperform" rating and raised its price target from US$140 to US$148.
The same day, Jeffries upgraded its rating from "Hold" to "Buy", raising its price target from US$108 to US$158.
On July 1, 2026, Citizens reiterated its "Outperform" rating, with a price target of US$187.
Streetwise Ownership Overview*
Abivax SA (ABVX:NASDAQ)
Finally, on July 2, 2026, Trust Securities updated its previous "Buy" rating but updated its price target from US$135 to US$155.
Plans for the Next Year
By Q4 2026, Abivax expects to submit its NDA to the USDA.
Other upcoming catalysts are as follows:
- September 21, 2026 — Half-year 2026 financial results
- Fourth Quarter 2026 — Planned NDA submission for obefazimod in UC
- Mid-2027 — topline results from the Phase 2b ENHANCE-CD induction trial evaluating obefazimod in Crohn's disease
Ownership & Share Information1
Abivax S.A. has a market cap of US$6.38 billion billion, with 79.29 million shares outstanding. The company's 52-week range is US$10.32-US$133.40.
Institutions own 49.33% of shares, while Strategic Investors own 5.30%. The remaining 45.37% of shares are Retail.
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- Cori Fisher wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
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1. Ownership and Share Structure Information
The information listed above was updated on the date this article was published and was compiled from information from the company and various other data providers.
