Shares of a small-cap company developing a treatment for vitiligo have skyrocketed. A competitor wants to buy it.

Shares of Forte Biosciences, a small-cap developer of autoimmune drugs—including treatments for vitiligo and celiac disease— soared nearly 40% on July 27. The company announced that Dutch biotech firm argenx plans to acquire it at a premium to the market price. Over the past year, Forte’s stock price has risen 560%.

On July 27, Forte’s stock rose nearly 40% on the Nasdaq to $76.50 per share—its highest level since late 2021. The rally was triggered by the company’s announcement that biotech firm argenx plans to acquire it. To do so, argenx’s “subsidiary” will launch a tender offer to buy all Forte shares at $77, valuing the company’s equity at approximately $2.2 billion. To close the deal, argenx will need to acquire a majority of Forte’s shares through the tender offer and obtain regulatory approval. The parties plan to complete all procedures in the third quarter of 2026.

Forte, founded in 2017, initially focused on developing live-bacteria-based treatments for atopic dermatitis. In 2020, it went public through a reverse merger with Tocagen, a publicly traded medical company. At its peak in September 2020, the combined company’s stock price reached $1,267 (after taking into account subsequent stock splits).

Everything changed a year later: in just one day, on September 2, 2021, Forte lost 80% of its market capitalization following the failure of trials for FB401, its primary and only drug candidate.

After deciding to discontinue further development of FB401, the company shifted its focus to another molecule, FB102, which was then only being tested on animals. This monoclonal antibody is an artificially created analogue of immune cells designed to combat a specific disease.

Forte is currently testing FB102 in patients with three conditions: celiac disease, a gluten intolerance; vitiligo, an autoimmune disease that causes white patches to appear on the skin; and alopecia, or hair loss. The application of this treatment is not limited to these conditions—it could potentially be used for other autoimmune conditions, according to the company’s website.

The new strategy has paid off—over the past 12 months, Forte’s stock price has soared by 560%, with a 270% increase since July 8. This came after the company announced that, in the first phase of clinical trials, its drug had proven effective in patients with vitiligo.

Following the release of this data, Barclays analysts assigned a rating to Forte shares for the first time and immediately recommended buying them. They set a price target of $74 for the company's stock.

A total of five Wall Street analysts are covering this small-cap biotech company: two recommend buying its stock, and three recommend holding it.