Piper Jaffray Starts Avalanche Biotechnologies (AAVL) at Overweight

Piper Jaffray initiates coverage on July IPO Avalanche Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: AAVL) with a Overweight rating and a price target of $39.00.

Analyst Joshua Schimmer comments, "The company is among a handful of pioneers in the gene therapy field, and a leader among an even smaller group applying this technology for ophthalmic indications. Gene therapy is particularly suited for the eye given an accessible but protected target and a myriad of addressable diseases with high unmet needs. The company's lead program, AVA-101, uses an AAV-2 vector to deliver the sFlt-1 gene to the back of the eye to treat wet-AMD and other neovascular disorders. The company also has an emerging pipeline which was recently boosted by a partnership with REGN."

NOTE: Piper Jaffray was a joint book-running manager of the IPO.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Avalanche Biotechnologies click here. For more ratings news on Avalanche Biotechnologies click here.

Shares of Avalanche Biotechnologies closed at $30.52 yesterday.

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