Cara Therapeutics initiated at Jefferies

Cara Therapeutics initiated at Jefferies  Cara Therapeutics initiated with a Buy at Jefferies. analyst Matthew Andrews started Cara Therapeutics with a Buy rating and $30 price target.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2789751

Dicerna initiated at Citi

Dicerna initiated with a Buy at Citi. Citi analyst Robyn Karnauskas started Dicerna Pharmaceuticals with a Buy rating and $27 price target.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2789753

Astellas Pharma downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank analyst Joseph Cairnes downgraded Astellas Pharma to Hold with an unchanged price target of JPY 2,020. The analyst sees a more balanced risk/reward at current valuation levels.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2789777

JPMorgan upgrades DaVita to Neutral on better chance of SB1156 veto

JPMorgan analyst Gary Taylor upgraded DaVita to Neutral from Underweight with an unchanged price target of $68. The analyst now believes is it much more likely that California Governor Brown will veto the recently passed SB1156, which he notes would curtail the financial arbitrage that dialysis providers enjoy from charitable premium assistance. With shares of DaVita down nearly 10% since the bill’s passage, the analyst sees “better prospects for the stock to recover that ground” in the near-term. As such, he views the company’s risk/reward as more balanced at current share levels. However, Taylor retains his longer-term concern regarding the charitable premium assistance “cat & mouse” game between employers/insurers and dialysis providers.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2789781

Stryker price target raised to $200 from $190 at JPMorgan

JPMorgan analyst Robbie Marcus raised his price target for Stryker to $200 saying the company is poised to post “top-tier” growth in the second half of 2018 and beyond. The analyst sees Stryker as one of the highest quality names in the MedTech space and a core MedTech holding. He believes current share levels provide an attractive entry point and reiterates an Overweight rating on the name.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2789783

AngioDynamics to acquire RadiaDyne

AngioDynamics to acquire RadiaDyne  AngioDynamics announced an agreement to acquire, a privately held medical diagnostic and device company that designs and develops patient dose monitoring technology to improve cancer treatment outcomes. This transaction expands AngioDynamics’ growing Oncology business by adding RadiaDyne’s early-stage, proprietary OARtrac real-time radiation dose monitoring platform and other market-leading oncology solutions, including the IsoLoc/ImmobiLoc and Alatus balloon stabilizing technologies.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2789799

ArQule announces FDA Fast Track Designation for rare disease med

ArQule announced that the FDA has granted Fast Track Designation to miransertib for the treatment of PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth Spectrum, or PROS, a group of related, ultra-rare genetic disorders characterized by excessive tissue growth in various parts of the body. The FDA’s Fast Track program aims to expedite the development and review of drugs which treat serious or life-threatening conditions and have demonstrated the potential to address unmet clinical needs. Miransertib has already been granted Rare Pediatric Disease Designation by the FDA and Orphan Designation by the FDA and European Medicines Agency in the rare overgrowth disease, Proteus syndrome. During the past three years, miransertib has been tested in a Phase 1 NIH/NHGRI-sponsored trial in Proteus Syndrome. More recently, we have been conducting a Phase 1/2 company-sponsored trial in PROS and a single patient use program with select physicians.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2789809