Wedbush Starts Cerulean Pharma (CERU) at Outperform

Wedbush initiated coverage on Cerulean Pharma (NASDAQ: CERU) with an Outperform rating and a price target of $12.00.

Analyst David M. Nierengarten said, "CERU’s nanopharmaceutical technology takes advantage of the local tumor environment to preferentially target, accumulate and release chemotherapy directly to the tumor cells. This capability has changed camptothecin from a drug that has been too toxic and difficult to dose to CRLX1010 that has been administered safely to over 200 patients, which compares well to currently approved cancer therapies."

"CRLX101 in combination with Avastin appears to show a differentiated benefit in the relapsed renal cell carcinoma setting, with a 27% overall response rate (ORR), much better than the typical low-single-digit rate seen with approved therapies in the setting. CRLX101 could be synergistic with VEGF inhibitors such as Avastin because CRLX101 inhibits hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), a protein that is upregulated in cancer cells in response to VEGF inhibition, and appears to cause resistance to the drug in tumor cells.Similarly, CRLX101 as monotherapy generated a 14% ORR in platinumresistant ovarian cancer patients, better than the 3% ORR topotecan (an approved camptothecin derivative) achieved in this setting," added the analyst. "CRLX101 could have a relatively fast route to approval in neoadjuvant rectal cancer; if it can demonstrate improvements in the pathologic complete response rate, it could be a commercial product by late 2017."

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

Shares of Cerulean Pharma closed at $6.75 yesterday.

You May Also Be Interested In

• DA Davidson Starts Everus (ECG) at Buy
• Mizuho Reiterates Outperform Rating on Broadcom Limited (AVGO) Into EPS
• Cummins (CMI) PT Lowered to $675 at Jefferies