Fulcrum Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FULC) shares rose over 5% after BofA upgraded ratings to Neutral, citing likelihood of success for the company’s facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) study.
The brokerage also raised its price target for the clinical-stage biopharma to $10 from $5, implying an upside of about 17% to last close. The stock was trading at $9 on Monday.
“If we assume that the current study’s population closely mirrors those enrolled in the previous study the likelihood of the study working should be higher than the 35% we have been modelling,” noted BofA analyst Tazeen Ahmad.
Earlier in May, Fulcrum has granted exclusive, ex-U.S. rights for its facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy candidate losmapimod to Sanofi. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a chronic, progressive genetic muscular disorder characterized by significant muscle cell death and fat infiltration into muscle tissue.
“We await the ph 3 readout before further de-risking the program,” Ahmad said, adding that BofA continues to view the pociredir story in sickle cell disease (SCD) as a stock overhang.
Wall Street and Seeking Alpha analysts are bullish and rated the stock a Buy. The stock has gained over 30% so far this year.
