H.C. Wainwright Upgrades Sutro Biopharma (STRO) to Buy
H.C. Wainwright analyst Andrew Fein upgraded Sutro Biopharma (NASDAQ: STRO) from Neutral to Buy with a price target of $28.00.
The analyst comments "What’s new? We are upgrading our rating on Sutro Biopharma to Buy with a $28 PT (from Neutral and $10 PT) following our work on STRO-004 coupled with discussions with a KOL on its potential to become a best-in-class tissue-factor (TF) targeting ADC. As a leading medical oncologist with robust clinical experience using ADCs, the KOL emphasized that ocular toxicity continues to be a major hurdle hindering physician adoption and patient treatment agreement. Oncologists remain wary of managing ophthalmic issues beyond simple courses of steroid/lubricant drops, and treatment is often interrupted for weeks while patients wait to be seen by ophthalmologists familiar with ADC side effects. As such, the KOL considers STRO-004 a uniquely promising ADC with preclinical safety data supporting improved corneal epithelial and keratinocyte viability compared to other TF ADCs. With a DAR8 exatecan payload and β-glu linker, the KOL is optimistic that the preclinical findings will translate into superior ocular safety – a key differentiating factor in the ADC landscape. Moreover, the KOL noted that Sutro has a history of designing ADCs with minimal eye toxicity, such as luveltamab tazevibulin, further boosting confidence in STRO-004’s ability to overcome historical tolerability issues. Collectively, these discussions increased our conviction that STRO-004 will deliver on promises of improved clinical benefit, potency, and tumor selectivity. Concurrently, Sutro has provided programmatic updates demonstrating continued execution across all ADC assets and further reinforcing our belief that Sutro’s precision engineered ADC platform is on track to deliver meaningfully higher drug exposures with improved tolerability. We therefore upgrade to a Buy rating and increase our PT from $10 to $28."
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Sutro Biopharma click here. For more ratings news on Sutro Biopharma click here.
Shares of Sutro Biopharma closed at $21.33 yesterday.