Analyst Says Buy the Weakness in Endo Pharma (ENDP) Shares Amid Vancocin Concerns

Cantor Fitzgerald's Irina Rivkind is recommending investors take advantage of a recent dip in shares of Endo Pharma (Nasdaq: ENDP) to load up on the stock. The stock fell more than 6 percent on Tuesday following early-morning news the FDA denied ViroPharma's Vancocin Citizen Petition.

The analyst noted "investor anxiety around approval of generic Liboderm" is heightened amid the ViroPharma news, however, Rivkind believes "Vancocin is not a good proxy for Liboderm."

Rivkind cited the following discrepancies with the Vancocin situation as applicable to the pending Liboderm ANDA decision:

• The FDA had already drafted guidance for generic Vancocin and held an advisory committee that unanimously endorsed the guidance. The FDA therefore telegraphed its position on Vancocin far in advance of its Citizen Petition denial. There is no such guidance in place for Lidoderm, and we think that the agency has been ambivalent about its position on topical drugs.
  
• The FDA recently issued draft guidance for generic Flector patch and Voltaren gel that required clinical endpoints to demonstrate bioequivalence, which is Endo's desired outcome for Lidoderm.
  
• Unlike Lidoderm, Vancocin has been on the market since 1986 and had no remaining patents listed in the Orange Book. The ANDA approvals were long overdue, in our view, though the FDA's decision to deny three years of market exclusivity was unusual.

Cantor Fitzgerald maintains a Buy rating and $50 price target on shares of Endo Pharma.

The stock is up just 0.2 percent to $35.05 at last check.

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