January 6, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
A recent Jefferies research report argues that five biotech companies are likely to be the target of acquisitions by large cap biotech companies, or possibly large pharmaceutical companies. Let’s take a look.
1. Bluebird Bio
Bluebird Bio focuses on gene therapy. On December 14, 2016, it announced the treatment of its first patient in Northstar-2, its Phase III trial of its LentiGlobin drug product in patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT). The company will be presenting at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on January 11 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
Wall Street’s consensus price target is $84.43. The is currently trading for $68.95.
2. Incyte
An oncology company, Incyte is high on the list of most investors’ acquisition targets. Most recently, investors are speculating and pushing Gilead Sciences to acquire Incyte. An acquisition of Incyte would bring in sales and royalties on its Jakafi cancer drug, which brought in about $1 billion last year, which is expected to grow, and royalties for baricitinib, which is expected to be approved for rheumatoid arthritis in the first quarter of this year. It also has a strong oncology pipeline.
Wall Street’s consensus price target is $109.58. Incyte is currently trading for $107.17.
Incyte is presenting at the JP Morgan Conference on Monday, January 9, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
Medicines Company and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced on November 15, 2016 positive results from its Phase II study of inclisiran to treat hypercholesterolemia. It is presenting LINK http://www.themedicinescompany.com/investors/news/medicines-company-present-j-p-morgan-healthcare-conference at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Monday, January 9, 2017 at 7:30 a.m. Pacific time.
The company has products on the market for cardiovascular, infectious disease and surgical care. In addition to inclisiran, it has ABP-700 in development for anesthesia and Carbavance for bacterial infections.
The Medicines Company is currently trading for $36.02.
4. Kite Pharma
Kite Pharma is an immuno-oncology company. Its lead product, KTE-C19, is in Phase II trials for refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma, as well as primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma. On January 3, 2017, it submitted an investigational new drug (IND) application for Kite-718, a T-cell therapy engineered to express T-cell receptors that target MAGE A3 and MAGE A6, which are often found in bladder, esophageal, head and neck, lung and ovarian cancers.
It is presenting at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
Wall Street’s consensus price target is $75. Kite is currently trading for $50.06.
Neurocrine Biosciences focuses on neurological and endocrine diseases. It has two lead late-stage programs. One is elagolix, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist for women’s health. It’s partnered with AbbVie with this drug. Its second program is valbenazine, a vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) inhibitor to treat movement disorders.
The company is presenting at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Monday, January 9, 2017 at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
The consensus price target for the company is $68.27. Neurocrine is currently trading for $42.66.
Lee Jackson, writing for 24/7 Wall Street, says, “Clearly there is no guarantee any of these companies are acquired. The good thing for aggressive growth investors is that even if they are not taken over, these stocks remain solid biotech investments with great product lines and clear upside potential.”
