Goldman downgrades Acorda Therapeutics to Sell with $10 price target

Goldman Sachs analyst Salveen Richter downgraded Acorda Therapeutics to Sell from Neutral and cut his price target for the shares to $10 from $19. The stock closed yesterday up 40c to $19.03. The analyst expects “significant erosion” to Ampyra revenue beginning in Q4 due to generic entry. This places “considerable focus” on Inbrija to serve as the next growth driver, and Street expectations are for an approval by the January 5 FDA action date, Richter tells investors in a research note. The analyst, however, sees risk “given precedent around a one-cycle review for a drug/device combination.” Further, he believes the drug has a “limited” commercial outlook and projects Inbrija U.S. peak sales of $550M, lower than Acorda’s guidance of greater than $800M, based on physician feedback. One doctor noted that Inbrija should be a niche drug given existing therapies that are easily titrated to mitigate off-period side effects and potential risk of dyskinesia from increasing levodopa concentration, Richter writes. In addition, the analyst sees “limited optionality” on Acorda’s pipeline as the assets are “still early or risky.” Thus, the shares face a lack of near-term catalysts, cautions Richter.

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