Baird analyst Catherine Ramsey Schulte lowered her price target on Meridian Bioscience to $14 from $17 and maintained a Neutral rating after the company reported preliminary Q2 revenue well below the Street, with the miss mostly driven by Diagnostics, with particular weakness in molecular and respiratory issues. The analyst says she remains on the sidelines, as she believes ongoing headwinds are likely to persist near-term and management’s new strategy will likely take time to drive better results.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Orgenesis announces independent study published
Orgenesis announced the publication of an independent study which was published in the February issue of Journal of Stem Cell Research and Therapy. Insulin dependent diabetes is a multifactorial disorder that could be theoretically cured by functional pancreatic islets and autologous insulin producing cells, or AIP cells, implantation. Regenerative medicine approaches include the potential for growing tissues and organs in the laboratory and transplanting them when the body cannot heal itself. There are several obstacles that remain to be overcome in order to bring regenerative medicine approaches for diabetes closer to clinical implementation; the cells generated in-vitro are typically of heterogenic and immature nature and the site of implantation should be readily vascularized for the implanted cells to survive in vivo. The study was able to address these two limitations by analyzing the effect of co-implanting AIP cells with vasculature promoting cells in an accessible site such as subcutaneous. It further analyzed the effects of reconstituting the in-vivo environment in-vitro on the maturation and function of insulin producing cells. The study results show that co-implantation of mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, and endothelial colony forming cells, or ECFCs, with AIP cells led to doubling the survival rates and a three-fold increase in insulin production, in-vivo. ECFCs and MSCs co-culture, as well as conditioned media of co-cultures resulted in significant increased expression of pancreatic specific genes and an increase in glucose-regulated insulin secretion, compared with AIP cells alone. Mechanistically, the study demonstrated that ECFCs and MSCs co-culture increases the expression of CTGF and ACTIVINssa, that play a key role in pancreatic differentiation.
Guardant Health price target raised to $70 from $40 at Cowen
Cowen analyst Doug Schenkel raised his 2019 revenue forecast for Guardant Health by about $14M to $133.8M, which he noted is consistent with management guidance and consensus. While he sees some instances where he believes some expectations for Guardant “have got a bit ahead of themselves,” Schenkel keeps an Outperform rating on the shares and raised his price target to $70 from $40, citing his view that the company has established itself as “the leader in comprehensive liquid biopsy testing for metastatic cancer patients.”
Walgreens Boots Alliance price target lowered to $58 from $75 at SunTrust
SunTrust analyst David MacDonald lowered his price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance to $58 and kept his Hold rating after its “weak” Q2 results and a “meaningful” cut to its guidance. The analyst says the outlook changes were driven by “reimbursement headwinds, sluggish retail volumes, and a challenging UK operating environment”. In spite of the management’s “several mitigation efforts”, MacDonald contends that industry challenges will not “meaningfully abate in the near/intermediate term”, adding that it will take time for Walgreens Boots management to “drive increased efficiency and re-accelerate growth.”
Lipocine seeks injunction against marketing of Clarus’ Jatenzo
Lipocine announced that it has filed suit against Clarus Therapeutics in the United States District Court of Delaware alleging that Clarus’s Jatenzo product infringes six of Lipocine’s U.S. patents: 9,034,858; 9,205,057; 9,480,690; 9,757,390; 6,569,463; and 6,923,988. “We have invested significant resources in developing innovations that have led to our importantly held strong intellectual property rights. We will defend those rights when infringed upon,” said Lipocine CEO Mahesh Patel.
Inogen price increase an unexpected positive, says Piper Jaffray
Piper Jaffray analyst JP McKim notes that the Inogen G5 officially was released to customers via the DTC channel and will be made available BTB domestic and BTB international in the coming months through a controlled roll out. The analyst says that the company can now market the G5 as market leading on all important categories like weight, flow rate, battery life and sound and will therefore go for a premium price. The company is increasing its minimum advertised price to $2,995 for the G5, up from $2,300 for G4/G3, he points out, adding that he believes this price increase was not expected by investors and sees it as a positive as people adjust their models. McKim reiterates an Overweight rating and $185 price target on the shares.
Iovance clinical updates strengthen investment thesis, says H.C. Wainwright
H.C. Wainwright analyst Joseph Pantginis says today’s clinical updates from Iovance Biotherapeutics strengthen his investment thesis. The company’s efforts to amend clinical programs and generate more powerful tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes therapies are each crucial for gaining market share in multiple clinical indications beyond melanoma, Pantginis tells investors in a research note titled “Important Chess Moves to Head Regulatory Agencies off at the Pass.” He believes the advances Iovance is making on multiple fronts, including the clinical and commercial, should be viewed as important inflection points for the shares. The analyst keeps a Buy rating on Iovance Biotherapeutics with a $26 price target.
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