Wedbush Reiterates Bullish Stance on Relypsa (RLYP) Following Veltassa MoM Acceleration

In a note Friday, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos reiterated her Outperform rating and $52 price target on Relypsa, Inc. (NASDAQ: RLYP) after the third full month of Veltassa launch metrics shows month-over-month acceleration.

In March, 1,277 (+57% MoM) new patients started taking Veltassa with a free starter supply, 706 (+102% MoM) outpatient prescriptions were filled, and 201 (+14% MoM) hospital/institution units were sold.

Veltassa's early launch continues to track in-line other launches in the cardio-renal space, the analyst notes.

"We see the first three months of Veltassa in-line with Corlanor which reported about $10 million in sales for the initial eight months of launch and Praluent which reported about $10 million in sales for the first five months of launch," Moussato said. "Consensus estimate for Q1:16 Veltassa sales are $962k in line with our estimate of $979k."

They estimate Q1 Veltassa sales are likely to be close to consensus, which calls for Veltassa sales is about $962,000. They project full year Veltassa sales of $16.7MM vs. consensus estimates of $22.8MM (range: $10.4MM-$35.9MM).

"We continue to believe even consensus could be achievable as the first quarter of prescription data are unlikely to reflect potential acceleration in uptake – especially after reimbursement is fully in-place and the FDA reviews the drug-drug interaction clinical results and makes a decision on a sNDA and the Veltassa label (hopefully, removing the black box and putting the drug-drug interaction results in a standard section)," the analyst said.

The next catalyst for the stock is release of Q1 financial results during first week of May and the release of April Veltassa prescription figures around mid-May.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Relypsa, Inc. click here. For more ratings news on Relypsa, Inc. click here.

Shares of Relypsa, Inc. closed at $18.56 yesterday.

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