Raymond James has initiated coverage of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals with buy-equivalent ratings. The analyst, Gary Nachman, issued a Strong Buy rating and a $63 per share target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He highlighted the potential of their RNA medicine, eplontersen, which is currently under FDA review for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary TTR amyloidosis. Nachman believes there is a high likelihood of FDA approval for the drug.
In the case of AbbVie, Raymond James argues that the company has successfully managed the Humira patent cliff in the U.S. and has expanded its newer immunology products, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, across multiple indications. Nachman started AbbVie with an Outperform rating and a $177 per share target. He believes Skyrizi and Rinvoq have the potential to surpass peak Humira sales and fend off future biosimilar competition.
For Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Nachman gave an Outperform rating and a $208 per share target. He cited favorable views from an expert regarding the company’s RNAi therapeutic, patisiran, which is currently under FDA review for the treatment of ATTR-CM. Although expectations have been lowered for the approval of Onpattro in ATTR-CM, Nachman believes there is a favorable risk-reward setup for another RNAi therapeutic called vutrisiran, which is expected to generate data in H1 2024.
In summary, Raymond James is optimistic about the prospects of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. They believe Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ eplontersen has a high chance of FDA approval, while AbbVie’s Skyrizi and Rinvoq can outperform Humira and Alnylam’s patisiran and vutrisiran have strong potential in the RNA therapeutics market.