Fulcrum Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FULC) Shares rose more than 5% after BofA upgraded ratings to Neutral, citing the likelihood of success of the company's facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) study.
The brokerage also raised its price target for the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical to $10 from $5, implying an upside of about 17% as of the last close. The stock was trading at $9 on Monday.
“If we assume that the current study population closely reflects the one enrolled in the previous study, the probability that the study works should be higher than the 35% we've been modeling,” said BofA analyst Tazeen Ahmad.
In early May, Fulcrum granted Sanofi exclusive rights outside the U.S. to its facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy candidate, losmapimod. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a genetic, chronic, progressive muscle disorder characterized by significant muscle cell death and fatty infiltration of muscle tissue.
“We are waiting for the pH reading of 3 before we continue to derisk the program,” Ahmad said, adding that BofA continues to view the history of pociredir in sickle cell disease (SCD) as excess stock.
Wall Street analysts and Seeking Alpha are bullish and rate the stock a “Buy.” The stock has gained more than 30% so far this year.
