Biogen Stock Slips As Alzheimer’s Drug Launch “Slower Than Expected.”

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Biogen

Shares fell sharply on Thursday after the biotech giant said in a presentation that the launch of the controversial Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, “was slower than initially expected.”

“Although we face short term challenges and everyone can see it, we continue to see a very high level of interest from physicians and patients and we continue to believe that the medium and long opportunity term remains important, “said

Biogen

(ticker: BIIB) Michel Vounatsos, CEO, during a presentation at the Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Conference.

“In addition to the launch in the United States, Aduhelm is now filed in numerous geographies, and we are pleased to announce the recent regulatory approval in the United Arab Emirates,” added the CEO, according to a conference transcript.

At the end of July, Biogen unveiled sales figures for the drug slightly below analysts’ expectations. The company had previously warned that the deployment would take time.

The backlash against Aduhelm’s approval culminated earlier this month when the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration asked the acting inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services to review the drug approval process.

Vounatsos told the conference that the company “supports our clinical data for the eight studies with over 3,000 patients that have supported expedited approval, and we support the integrity of the review process.”

The company said it was pushing forward three studies to generate additional data.

Alisha Alaimo, president of US operations at Biogen, raised concerns about Aduhelm’s data and the approval process. She said questions about the approval process have “been more prevalent than we originally anticipated.

“Our sales, market access and medical teams work with an incredible sense of urgency to communicate our clinical data. And once published, we will appropriately disseminate manuscripts from our Phase III trials, which we believe will enable a data-driven conversation and better inform clinical practice, ”Alaimo added.

Jefferies analysts on Thursday admitted that Aduhelm’s early challenges were not positive. But they added that they were not “totally unexpected, and we agree that it will take time.”

“With stocks falling to $ 300 and sentiment very negative, we think this is an attractive opportunity, although Street might not pay attention until the decision (January national coverage determination) and longer. for the logistical deployment of the drug, “added the analysts.

Jefferies analysts are pricing the stock a buy with a price target of $ 500.

RBC analyst Brian Abrahams wrote in a note Thursday that Biogen said it was only aware of 50 sites currently infusing the drug – “only a fragment of the 900 centers they were expecting would be ready to infuse. shortly after the approval of the adu “.

He added, like analysts at Jefferies, that he did not think that “this dynamic would come as a great surprise to those who follow the story or the headlines.”

“While management’s recognition of the significant hurdles to launching Aduhelm is unlikely to come as a major surprise, and the stock is already starting to reflect much more pessimism about Aduhelm’s adoption and its competitive impact,” we believe this highlights the limited potential for significant upside drivers between now and the quarters post a national coverage determination decision).

Abrahams is pricing the stock at Sector Perform with a target price of $ 341.

Biogen shares fell 7.37% on Thursday to $ 297.84. The stock has risen nearly 22% since the start of the year, but has fallen over the past week.

Thirty-two analysts surveyed by FactSet rate the stock overweight with an average price target of $ 425.20.

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