Deutsche Bank Expects More Back-End-Loaded Gene Therapy Deals (BIIB) (AGTC) (CELG) (JUNO)

Deutsche Bank maintained a Buy rating on Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) with a price target of $460. Earlier Biogen and AGTC (NASDAQ: AGTC) announced a collaboration and license agreement related to develop gene-based therapies for ophthalmic diseases. Today's announcement follows a recent agreement between Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) and Juno Therapeutics (NASDAQ: JUNO). Analyst Robyn Karnauskas expects similar deals in the future.

Karnauskas explained, "Biogen’s collaboration with AGTC on gene therapy makes us believe that Biogen is also building up pipeline for 2020 and beyond. We see this deal as a continuation of trend as CELG-JUNO announced a similar deal earlier this week. These back-end-loaded deals are less risky for big Biotechs, in our opinion, and allow them to be part of next-gen innovation. We expect to see more such deals in the future."

"One trend we have noticed so far is that the big Biotechs are not positioning themselves in a big way on gene therapies in mass markets such as wet AMD. Regeneron (Nasdaq: REGN) and Biogen did not partner for the wet AMD in their respective deals – although REGN kept a non-binding option to offer a deal for wet AMD with Avalanche. Similarly, wet AMD is outside the scope of the current Biogen and AGTC deal. It remains unclear who drove this decision; however, given the size of these markets, it would likely make more sense to have a bigger partner for diseases such as AMD," added the analyst.

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

Shares of Biogen closed at $405.41 yesterday.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Biogen (BIIB) PT Lowered to $270 at Oppenheimer
• Yageo Corp. (2327:TT) (YAGOY) PT Lowered to NT$656 at HSBC
• Piper Sandler Downgrades Southwestern Energy (SWN) to Neutral