Altimmune's shares are set to rally at the opening bell after the biopharmaceutical company reported positive results in a study of its investigational treatment for patients with moderate-to-severe alcohol-use disorder.

In premarket trading, the shares were 9.5% higher at $3.24. That helps unwind some of the 18% drop so far this year for the stock through Monday's close.

Altimmune said it plans to request an end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration based on the top-line results from its trial evaluating pemvidutide, a balanced glucagon/GLP-1 dual receptor agonist.

The trial met its primary endpoint with a highly statistically significant reduction in heavy-drinking days versus placebo, with consistent positive results across important secondary endpoints, including the World Health Organization risk drinking levels, zero heavy-drinking days and phosphatidyl ethanol levels.

A generally favorable tolerability profile was observed in the trial, the company said.

Chief Medical Officer Christophe Arbet-Engels said that, given the known detrimental effects of alcohol on the liver, the liver-directed impact of glucagon in pemvidutide may provide further benefit in the treatment of alcohol use disorder over GLP-1 alone, underscoring pemvidutide's promising potential.