Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Juno Therapeutics indicated $49.12/$49.80 in pre-market vs $48.31 close after SunTrust analyst Peter Lawson upgraded to buy from hold and raised his PT to $65 from $25, writing that the co.’s experimental CAR-T therapy, JCAR017, is demonstrating best-in-class safety and efficacy.

• Beyond efficacy, the safety data and potential outpatient use gives JUNO a clear advantage over peers despite being 12-18 months behind competitors
• The efficacy/safety of JUNO’s drug better positions the drug-developer as a possible takeout target
• Separately, Guggenheim analyst Tony Butler (buy) raised PT to $55 from $38 on the new JCAR017 data, the potential approval in 2018, and expansion into earlier lines of therapy and other indications, he wrote in a note.
  • Says 6-month data will be key to understand efficacy and safety for JCAR017 in a better way
• NOTE: JUNO closed 7.6% higher yesterday afterreporting that patients from a group that the company is testing for the pivotal phase of its trial showed an overall response rate of 80% and a 3- month complete response rate of 73% after being infused with a higher dose of cells; no deaths from cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity were identified

To contact the reporter on this story: Tatiana Darie in New York at tdarie1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net Cristin Flanagan