UPDATE: Chardan Capital Markets Starts SQZ Biotechnologies (SQZ) at Buy, PT $17

Chardan Capital Markets analyst Geulah Livshits initiates coverage on SQZ Biotechnologies (NYSE: SQZ) with a Buy rating and a price target of $17.00.

The analyst comments "We initiate coverage of SQZ Biotechnologies with a Buy rating (PT$17) on the potential of its microfluidic squeezing-based intracellular delivery platforms to realize the potential for cell therapies in oncology, autoimmunity, and infectious disease. SQZ’s technology leverages the finding that squeezing cells through a tight channel creates openings in the cell membrane, allowing for direct delivery of cargo to the cell’s cytosol. Unlike electroporation, squeezing has limited impact on cell viability or phenotype, and unlike viral vectors, is not constrained by cargo size or cell type; SQZ has achieved efficient delivery of DNA, mRNA, and peptides in various cell types. Importantly, parallelizing the process in microfluidics chips enables SQZ to modify billions of cells/hour, enabling a ~24 hour manufacturing time and a 1-week vein-to-vein time for an autologous product. The process is amenable to further automation and SQZ is advancing a point-of-care system that may not require a clean room, further diverging from typical cell therapy paradigms. We believe this investment in establishing a streamlined process is an important positive signal regarding commercial feasibility as it sidesteps common cell therapy cost drivers (e.g., time, virus). In oncology, SQZ is testing 3 clinical-stage cell-based cancer vaccine strategies (+/- checkpoint inhibitors) in HPV-associated cancers, each of which is designed to elicit cytotoxic CD8 T cells against HPV antigens (see our HPV landscape below). The company showed clinical induction of CD8 T cells with the 1st of these programs in 2021, and data on all 3 in 2H22 may be an important proof of concept for the company and an opportunity for value inflection. The oncology program includes an ongoing collaboration with Roche (unrated). SQZ plans to apply similar principles in infectious disease. The company is also on track to file an IND in 1H23 for its lead autoimmune program in celiac disease (CeD), an indication with T cell driven pathology (see our CeD landscape below). SQZ has shown its tolerizing antigen carriers (TACs) can exploit natural mechanisms of red blood cell clearance to reduce pathogenic T cell activity in a mouse model of type I diabetes, without broad immune suppression."

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

Shares of SQZ Biotechnologies closed at $3.35 yesterday.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Raymond James Starts SpyGlass Pharma (SGP) at Outperform
• JPMorgan Assumes salesforce.com (CRM) at Overweight, 'Overblown Concerns'
• Freedom Broker Upgrades Serve Robotics (SERV) to Buy