Roth Capital 'Impressed' with '6972 Safety Profile; Affirms Ligand Pharma (LGND) at 'Buy'

Roth Capital affirms Ligand Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: LGND) with a Buy rating and $135 price target after the company announced positive Phase Ib data for LGD-6972 at ADA showing dose dependent reductions in fasting plasma glucose and a strong safety profile with no SAEs or treatment discontinuations during the 14-day treatment period.

Analyst Joseph Pantginis commented, We are impressed with the '6972 data, to date, especially the safety profile. Regarding the planned Phase II discussed above, we do not believe that '6972 will make it to this study as a wholly owned Ligand asset. To this end, based on Ligand's track record and data in hand for '6972, we believe the company will outlicense/partner this asset prior to the initiation of a full-fledged Phase II program. Coming off of the recent ASCO meeting, we also saw additional data from Kyprolis and Promacta, which currently represent the two core assets to Ligand's revenue growth. Drivers for this growth include the 1) July 2015 PDUFA date for Kyprolis sNDA 2) Novartis' (NVS-NC) growth initiatives for Promacta and 3) CE-Melphalan's (Evomela) PDUFA data in October 2015.

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

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