Regeneron (REGN) Investors Already Pricing-in Praluent Approval; Roth Capital Affirms at 'Neutral'

Roth Capital affirms Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: REGN) with a Neutral rating and $495 price target, saying Praluent approval has already been priced into the stock.

Analyst Joseph Pantginis commented, This approval represents another major achievement for REGN and we believe remains priced into the stock. We believe that Praluent will achieve blockbuster status but the traction of the launch will be gradual. We believe pricing of $14,600 per year came in above most expectations, including ours and the drug faces the following potential hurdles (despite having a potential U.S. market of 8-10 million patients): 1) establishing reimbursement and potential restrictions on physicians to exhaust options before progressing to anti-PCSK9, 2) building physician awareness while the focus will be to first ensure optimizing statin therapy or other modality (Zetia/Vyotrin), 3) how quickly physicians will determine patients "officially" unable to get to target cholesterol levels, 4) willingness of patients to inject a drug, and 5) potential competition from Amgen's (Nasdaq: AMGN) Repatha. A further potential hurdle is risk from a potential Amgen injunction on Praluent. In the U.S., a March 2016 trial date has been set and in the E.U. preliminary injunction proceedings and an expedited trial date are in process.

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