Ultragenyx upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. Barclays analyst Gena Wang upgraded Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical to Overweight and raised her price target for the shares to $74 from $62. The analyst thinks a higher price target for Crysvita could drive upside to revenue growth expectations. She also sees a “reasonable probability of success” for triheptanoin in long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorde and glucose transporter type-1 deficiency syndrome.
Friday, May 11, 2018
National Health Investors upped to buy by Capital One
National Health Investors upgraded to Overweight from Equalweight at Capital One
AstraZeneca Phase 3 COPD trial missed primary endpoint
AstraZeneca announced top-line results from the Galathea Phase III trial for Fasenra in patients with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The trial did not meet the primary endpoint of a statistically-significant reduction of exacerbations in patients with COPD. The safety and tolerability findings in Galathea were consistent with those observed in previous trials with Fasenra, the company said. It added, a full evaluation of the data is ongoing and the results will be submitted for presentation at a forthcoming medical meeting. Fasenra is currently approved as an add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma in the U.S., Europe Japan and several other countries. The results of the Galathea trial do not impact the approved indication in severe eosinophilic asthma, AstraZeneca said. Dr. Sean Bohen, the company’s Chief Medical Officer, added: “COPD is a debilitating disease with significant unmet need among patients whose disease remains uncontrolled despite treatment with existing inhaled therapies. We will now await the results of TERRANOVA and a full evaluation of both trials to determine next steps for Fasenra in COPD.”
Nektar positive catalyst seen early June: Piper
Piper expects positive oral presentation from Nektar in early June. Piper Jaffray analyst Tyler Van Buren believes next Wednesday’s ASCO abstract for Nektar’s Phase I/II Pivot study of NKTR-214 in combination with nivolumab will be one of the most highly anticipated abstracts of the conference. The analyst notes, however, that the abstract will be from a February data cut while the oral presentation in early June will be from a data cut later this month. As such, the oral presentation will contain “significantly more mature data and should ultimately be relied on to make conclusions about the anti-tumor activity,” Van Buren tells investors in a research note. He believes the oral presentation will be positive and keeps an Overweight rating on Nektar Therapeutics with a $125 price target following the company’s Q1 results.
Dexcom started at buy by B of A
Dexcom initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill. BofA/Merrill analyst Travis Steed initiated Dexcom with a Buy and $100 price target.
RXi, Iovance partner on cancer treatment
RXi Pharmaceuticals (RXII) has entered into a research collaboration with Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA) to evaluate the potential synergies with RXi’s novel sd-rxRNA therapeutic compounds and Iovance’s autologous cell therapy based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes for the use in the treatment of cancer. Synergies between RXi’s self-delivering RNAi therapeutic platform and Iovance’s TIL cell therapy approach will be explored preclinically.
Voyager upped to buy by Wedbush
Voyager Therapeutics upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush. As previously reported, Wedbush analyst David Nierengarten upgraded Voyager Therapeutics to Outperform from Neutral, but lowered his price target on shares to $28 from $29. The analyst cited valuation, after a sell-off in the stock over the last two months cut the share price nearly in half, including a large dip in the stock on Thursday due to confusing hedging language in Voyager’s 10Q filing. Nierengarten said the risk/reward is now more favorable at these levels ahead of the company’s pivotal trial start for VY-AADC.
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