BMO Capital Downgrades Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) to Market Perform

BMO Capital downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IONS) from Outperform to Market Perform with a price target of $26.00 (from $55.00).

Analyst Do Kim commented, "We are downgrading IONS shares to Market Perform from Outperform, following partner GSK’s decision to delay the CARDIO-TTR Phase III trial start until data become available from the NEURO-TTR and investigator-sponsored Phase II aTTR cardiomyopathy studies. We are lowering our price target to $26 from $55, as we reduce our TTR-Rx sales projections due to a potentially weaker competitive profile, and assign a lower probability of success to TTR-Rx and volanesorsen commercialization given increased regulatory risk. We believe discovery of thrombocytopenia cases in the Phase III volanesorsen studies further clouds the underlying cause of platelet reduction. While we expect the volanesorsen trials to increase their platelet monitoring and remain on schedule, we believe the uncertainty increases the risk for FDA intervention. Upside risks to our Mkt rating include accelerated approval of nusinersen in infants, shorter delay to CARDIO-TTR start, and positive data from mid-stage pipeline, including FXI-Rx, GCGR-Rx, and DMPK-2.5Rx (expected end 2016)."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Ionis Pharmaceuticals click here. For more ratings news on Ionis Pharmaceuticals click here.

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals closed at $21.36 yesterday.

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