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# Disc Medicine rose 38.86% after its drug for a painful reaction to sunlight passed a final-stage trial
- URL: https://www.sharespective.com/stories/disc-medicine-rose-38-86-drug-2026-10-20/
- Published: 2026-10-19T21:15:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-19T21:50:37.000Z
- Description: Disc Medicine closed Monday at US$78.93, up 38.86%. Its drug, bitopertin, met every goal it was set in a final-stage trial of 183 patients, and the company is now worth about US$3 billion.
- Author: Shaun Botha
- Tags: Healthcare, #story, #group-health

Disc Medicine closed Monday at US$78.93, up 38.86%. Its drug, bitopertin, met every goal it was set in a final-stage trial of 183 patients, and the company is now worth about US$3 billion.

**So what does the drug treat?** Erythropoietic protoporphyria, or EPP, is a rare genetic disorder in which sunlight causes severe pain, swelling and sometimes blistering. Disc counts about 14,000 diagnosed patients in the US aged 12 and over. Only one treatment, Scenesse, is approved there, and there is no cure.

Over six months, patients on bitopertin gained an average of 12.2 extra hours a month in daylight without pain, compared with those on a placebo. The drug also cut the compound that builds up in the blood and causes the reactions by 41.4%.

![Chart: Disc Medicine jumps 38.86% on its trial result. Disc Medicine's daily closing share price in US$, 10 August to 19 October 2026. Friday's close was US$56.84; Monday's was US$78.93.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/10/disc-medicine-rose-38-86-drug-2026-10-20-chart.jpg)

This story’s chart of the day.

This is Disc's second attempt at approval. In February the US Food and Drug Administration turned bitopertin down and asked to see this trial first. Disc now plans to refile by the end of 2026, and it expects a decision by the middle of 2027.

The catch 

half the patients taking bitopertin reported dizziness, which Disc says was mild to moderate and passed. A second rejection would cost the company at least another year, so the mid-2027 ruling is the date that matters.

[ This story ran in The Dip Buyers Return Tuesday 20 October’s edition, with the market snapshot, the other two stories, the numbers and the week ahead. Read the whole edition → ](https://www.sharespective.com/sharespective-2026-10-20/)