JPMorgan analyst Tycho Peterson says he walked away from investor meetings with Guardant Health management “encouraged on several fronts.” The analyst sees continued progress on reimbursement via the Palmetto draft local coverage determination and highlights management’s confidence in driving volumes via ramping adoption. Guardant offers an attractive sales growth profile driven by continued traction in G360/OMNI and “steady momentum” in biopharma partnerships, as well as a “relatively clear line-of-sight” to expanded clinical reimbursement, Peterson tells investors in a research note. He continues to view Guardant Health as a “best-in-class asset in the attractive liquid biopsy space.” Furthermore, the recent 20% share pullback from all-time highs heading into the lock-up expiration has resulted in renewed investor interest, says the analyst. He reiterates an Overweight rating on Guardant Health with an $85 price target.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Inovio completes enrollment of Phase 1/2 immuno-oncology trial ahead of schedule
Inovio () announced that its Phase 1/2 immuno-oncology trial in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma has completed its enrollment three months ahead of schedule. The 52-patient trial is designed to evaluate Inovio’s INO-5401 T cell activating immunotherapy encoding multiple antigens expressed by GBM and INO-9012, an immune activator encoding IL-12, in combination with cemiplimab-rwlc, a PD-1 inhibitor developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) in collaboration with Sanofi (SNY). This trial information will be presented at Phase I-III Trials in Progress session at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research being held in Atlanta. Inovio expects to report interim results from this study before the end of this year evaluating safety, immunological impact, progression-free survival and overall survival.
Global Blood Therapeutics price target raised to $96 from $85 at Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo analyst Jim raised his price target for Global Blood Therapeutics to $96 from $85 following senior management meetings with investors in Europe last week. Overall, the analyst came away with continued confidence in voxelotor safety and efficacy, prospects for accelerated approval, positioning within the evolving SCD market, opportunity for additional growth beyond initial labeling and broader opportunity to lead a transformation of SCD treatment in a similar way as seen previously in blood disorders like myeloma. Birchenough reiterates an Outperform rating on the shares.
ShockWave Medical initiated with a Market Perform at Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen started coverage of ShockWave Medical with a Market Perform rating and a $33 price target. The analyst believes the company’s intravascular lithotripsy is an innovative technology that has several key advantages over the competition, and that it will be able to both grow the market opportunity for calcium modification devices and take share from the atherectomy players. That stated, at current valuations, Biegelsen does not see the potential for meaningful multiple expansion.
Stryker price target raised to $219 from $214 at Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen raised his price target for Stryker to $219 from $214 following his monthly MAKO Surgeon Tracker, that analyzes trends in surgeon training. The analyst notes that surgeon training for Stryker’s MAKO Total Knee Application was up 1.2% in March month over month as compared to up 2.7% in February. There is typical quarter-to-quarter variation in surgeon training and Biegelsen expects normalized growth going forward versus the high-growth seen in the initial quarters post launch. The analyst continues to believe there is runway for growth as MAKO remains vastly underpenetrated both from a system placement and procedure volume standpoint, globally. He reiterates an Outperform rating on the shares.
Encompass Health to acquire Alacare Home Health & Hospice
Encompass Health announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase substantially all of the assets of privately owned Alacare Home Health & Hospice. Birmingham, Alabama-based Alacare operates 23 home health locations and 23 hospice locations in Alabama and generated revenues of approximately $117M in 2018. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019, subject to certain customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Encompass Health will fund the purchase with cash on hand and borrowings under its revolving credit facility.
Puma Biotechnology, Pierre Fabre enter into license agreement
Puma Biotechnology and Pierre have entered into an exclusive license agreement under which Pierre Fabre will develop and commercialize NERLYNX within Europe and part of Africa. In September 2018 the European Commission granted marketing authorization for NERLYNX for the extended adjuvant treatment of adult patients with early stage hormone receptor positive HER2-overexpressed/amplified breast cancer and who are less than one year from the completion of prior adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy. Under the terms of the agreement, Puma will receive an upfront payment of $60M, as well as additional regulatory and commercial milestone payments totaling up to $345M. In addition, Puma will receive significant double-digit royalties on NERLYNX sales throughout the territory covered by the license agreement between Puma and Pierre Fabre.
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