Stock Market Today, April 29: KalVista Pharmaceuticals Surges on Chiesi Group Acquisition Announcement
KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KALV), a developer of oral therapies for rare diseases, closed Wednesday at $26.67, up 38.62%. The stock moved higher after news that Italy’s Chiesi Group will acquire KalVista for $27 per share in cash. Investors are watching deal closing risks and regulatory approvals. Trading volume reached 69.4 million shares, about 3,323% above its three-month average of 2 million shares. KalVista Pharmaceuticals IPO'd in 2015 and has fallen 66% since going public.
How the markets moved today
The S&P 500 slipped 0.02% to finish Wednesday at 7,138, while the Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.04% to close at 24,673. Within the biotechnology sector, rivals were mixed, with Prothena closing at $10.87, down 5.56%, as investors reassessed risk around drug pipelines and deal activity.
What this means for investors
KalVista Pharmaceuticals’ stock is pricing in a high likelihood that the company will be taken private by Italy’s Chiesi Group at $27 per share, after its share price spiked 39% today to $26.67. Home to EKTERLY, an oral medicine for hereditary angioedema, which affects 1 in 50,000 people, KalVista’s addition to Chiesi will round out the latter’s portfolio of rare disease treatments.
The acquisition is interesting to me because KalVista was previously one of the most-shorted stocks on the market, with 40% short interest. With EKTERLY only recently being approved in July 2025 -- and KalVista only reporting three quarters of revenue from the treatment -- Chiesi’s larger, international scale should help the nascent treatment option reach more potential patients.
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Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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