Chardan Capital Says uniQure (QURE) on Pullback, Slight Delay to AMT-060 is Immaterial

Chardan Capital affirms its Buy rating and $40 price target on uniQure N.V. (Nasdaq: QURE) following the company's Q3 report and update issued on Monday.

Analyst Gbola Amusa says investors should buy on post-Q3 weakness. The analyst noted the following key points from the company's quarterly conference call:

• AMT-060 (hemophilia B): In early January 2016 (previously due by end-2015), uniQure will release preliminary, top-line data for 2 patients who have completed at least 12 weeks of treatment, with full results from the first cohort of 5 patients at a scientific conference in 1H2016.
  • Our take: A delay of a few weeks is immaterial to our thesis, or any reasonably-modeled hemophilia B view, and we continue to expect a signal of factor IX expression at 12 weeks in each of the 2 patients shown in early 2016.
  • Another take: We believe Dimension Therapeutics (Neutral, PT$13) traded up 9% yesterday, as some in the market wondered why uniQure is presenting data for only 2 patients of 5 in the interim data. Our catalyst sheets for months have consistently showed uniQure's expectations of "2-3 patients" of data out of the 10 in the trial, and we note this approach enhances the ability of QURE to present the data at a major scientific conference. As such, we continue to prefer uniQure over Dimension Therapeutics.
• AMT-110 (Sanfilippo B): uniQure is still working to complete in-licensing of the recent positive phase I/II data from Institut Pasteur and will follow the patients through the end of the 30-month study, which is expected around year-end 2016.
  • Our take: We continue to believe long-term durability of AMT-110's benefits in a deadly disease like Sanfilippo B would represent a landmark result in gene therapy and in lysosomal storage diseases, as patients who should have been heading towards a vegetative state by the age of 7 or so (and death in their teens) showed age-dependent and almost normal brain development without atrophy at sequential MRIs.
• Glybera US: As above, the company has decided not to pursue U.S. regulatory approval of Glybera in lipoprotein lipase deficiency and as a consequence reported a one-time, non-cash impairment of €11.6 million, which drove an EPS of -€1.08, versus our expectation of -€0.60.
  • Our take: Prior to this news, we modeled €0 million in 2025E revenues for Glybera US, meaning no impact to our sales model and no impact to our valuation.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on uniQure BV click here. For more ratings news on uniQure BV click here.

You May Also Be Interested In

• MarineMax (HZO) PT Lowered to $35 at Stifel
• Acrivon Therapeutics Inc (ACRV) PT Lowered to $22 at Jones Trading
• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades Trustmark (TRMK) to Outperform