Needham & Company Downgrades Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) to Buy; CVOT Not Required, But Initial Label Will Be Narrower

Needham & Company downgraded Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ESPR) from Strong Buy to Buy with a price target of $115.00 (from $130.00), noting while a CVOT is not required the initial label will be narrower.

Analyst Chad Messer commented, "Following an End of Phase 2 meeting with the FDA, Esperion now plans to seek an initial approval in secondary prevention patients who are already on maximally tolerated statins. The FDA will accept LDL as the endpoint for this patient population without requiring an outcomes trial, removing a major stock overhang. Even with today's sell-off, shares have moved higher since last week, and an important catalyst has passed so we are returning our rating to Buy. We note that the intended initial indication for ETC-1002 is narrower than our previous expectation, so we are revising our ETC-1002 market projections. We lower our price target to $115 from $130."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Esperion Therapeutics click here. For more ratings news on Esperion Therapeutics click here.

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics closed at $64.17 yesterday.

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