Stifel: abicipar improvement not enough to make Allergan drug competitive

After Allergan reported data from its 28-week open-label safety study, MAPLE, to evaluate the safety of abicipar produced via a modified manufacturing process, Stifel analyst Annabel Samimy noted that overall inflammation was reduced to 8.9% and severe inflammation to 1.6%. However, her talks with key opinion leading physicians lead her to conclude that the MAPLE inflammation rates are still too high compared to other “extremely safe” and effective options on the market today. Increasing competition on efficacy, dosing length, and price, as well as the still-high inflammation rates, continue to limit any meaningful commercial opportunity for abicipar, said Samimy, who keeps a Hold rating on Allergan shares.
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