Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) U.K.-Specific Hold Concerns 'Overblown' - William Blair

William Blair analyst Tim Lugo came out to deafened Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) following reports of a U.K.-specific hold on further dosing of patients enrolled in Sarepta’s global Phase III ESSENCE trial of golodirsen.

Lugo sees the concerns as "overblown".

To wit... "We see today’s roughly 6% sell-off in shares of Sarepta as overblown, and we do not believe the U.K. center temporary hold presents a new safety or timing risk for the company’s exon skipping platform. To date, the company’s exon skipping platform has been remarkably well tolerated over repeat weekly doses for long durations, as demonstrated with safety data from more than 5 years of Exondys 51 treatment. We note that it remains unknown as to what therapy the reports of rhabdomyolysis occurred in (golodirsen or casimersen), and this could raise some concern with the FDA if ahead of the company’s meeting for golodirsen the adverse effect occurred in this arm. Still, golodirsen’s impressive exon skipping efficiency compared with Exondys 51, risk-benefit ratio in the DMD population, and the fact that rhabdomyolysis occurs in some DMD patients as part of the natural history of disease progression lead us to remain positive on the potential for a FDA accelerated approval recommendation. In our view, Sarepta remains a core small-/midcap name in the biotech sector, and we reiterate our Outperform rating and see today’s overblown depreciation as an attractive buying opportunity ahead of a catalyst-rich 2018..."

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