DA Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser raised her price target on Medifast to $249 and kept her Buy rating after its Q2 results showed accelerating sales growth. The analyst adds that operating profit rose 51%, while Sequential Health Coach growth accelerated to 18%. Weiser raises her Medifast EPS view to $4.50 from $3.65 and believes that view remains conservative as it assumes “very little” leverage and deceleration of sequential Health Coach growth going forward.
Friday, August 3, 2018
Regeneron price target raised to $388 from $361 at BMO Capital
BMO Capital analyst Matthew Luchini raised his price target on Regeneron to $388 after its Q2 results showing ‘in-line’ Eylea sales, a beat from Dupixent, and better than expected earnings coming from lower expenses and taxes. The analyst also attributes the recent improved investor sentiment to a potential weekly SubQ C5 inhibitor, which is expected to start a Phase II trial in 2019. Longer term, the analyst keeps his Market Perform rating on Regeneron given the “concerns about VEGF competitors and key pipeline opportunity uncertainty”.
Cantel acquires Stericycle’s Controlled Environmental Solutions business
Cantel Medical Corp. (CMD) announced that it has acquired Stericyle (SRCL) Controlled Environmental Solutions business for a cash purchase price of $17M on a cash-free and debt-free basis. The CES business, consisting of B&V Testing and Certco services, is a leading provider of testing and certification, environmental monitoring and decontamination services for clean rooms and other controlled environments to ensure safety, regulatory compliance and quality control. For the calendar year ending December 31, 2017, the CES business reported revenues of $8.9M. Cantel anticipates the acquisition to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share in the fiscal year ending July 31, 2019 and beyond, and accretive to GAAP earnings per share in the fiscal year ending July 31, 2020 and beyond. The CES business is made up of highly specialized testing and certification services, control procedures and tailored decontamination technology for the clean room to ensure optimal performance of the environment and end-user compliance to highly regulated industry standards.
Bausch Health’s Salix announces strategic collaboration with Cedars-Sinai
Salix Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bausch Health Companies, announced its affiliate has entered into a research agreement with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to further investigate the microbiome in the treatment of GI disorders. Under the terms of the agreement, the lab of world-renowned microbiome researcher Mark Pimentel, M.D., executive director of the Medically Associated Science and Technology Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, will focus on the discovery of new therapeutic treatments related to conditions of the gut microbiome. Dr. Pimentel has played an integral role in advancing science’s understanding of the gut microbiome including his widely-accepted research on a methanogen as an agent for causing constipation in humans. Salix has the option to acquire any therapeutic invention discovered through the research. Salix and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are looking to begin research in the third quarter of 2018.
Achaogen’s Zemdri granted NTAP status by the CMS
Achaogen announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – CMS – has granted a new technology add-on payment, or NTAP, for Zemdri when administered in the hospital inpatient setting. The NTAP program will provide hospitals with a payment, in addition to the standard-of-care Diagnostic Related Group reimbursement, of up to 50% of the cost of Zemdr ifor a period of two to three years, effective in the 2019 fiscal year starting on October 1, 2018. CMS has assigned a maximum payment of $2,722.50 for a patient treated with ZEMDRI.
CMS grants new tech add-on payment for Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ Vyxeos
Jazz Pharmaceuticals announced that the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services granted approval for a New Technology Add-on Payment for Vyxeos liposome for injection for the treatment of adults with newly diagnosed therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia or AML with myelodysplasia-related changes, a rapidly progressing and life-threatening blood cancer. The Vyxeos NTAP will support Medicare beneficiaries’ access to Vyxeos when they are treated in certain inpatient hospital settings. The NTAP payment is in addition to the diagnosis-related group-based reimbursement that hospitals receive under the Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System. The NTAP designation is expected to remain in effect for a period of two to three years until the cost of Vyxeos is included in CMS’s recalibration of the DRG payment rate. The NTAP program is only available to new technologies meeting the definition of newness of the technology, exceeding cost criterion thresholds and demonstrating substantial clinical improvement over existing therapies.
BioMarin price target raised to $120 from $114 at Piper Jaffray
Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Raymond raised his price target for BioMarin Pharmaceutical to $120 and keeps an Overweight rating on the name following the company’s “solid” Q2 results. The analyst believes the Palynziq launch is going well and says BioMarin provided incrementally positive updates for hemophilia gene therapy candidate valrox. He sees a “credible chance” that BioMarin could file early for accelerated approval on valrox Phase 1 data. Raymond continues to like to setup for the stock and would be a buyer to levels approaching $120.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)