Chief Medical Officer Resignation Will Not Affect Ultragenyx's Catalyst-Rich Timeline

After Thursday's close, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ: RARE) noted in its 8-k form about CMO Sunil Agarwal's resignation. The decision is effective August 18. The reason for the move was categorized as seeking a different career path.

During the imminent search process for a new chief medical officer, CEO Emil Kakkis will lead the development leadership team.

Taking into consideration management's report, according to which no changes took place concerning clinical and regulatory timelines, Canaccord Genuity still predicts multiple catalysts from the company's diverse pipeline. This pipeline includes clinical data and/or regulatory decisions for all four clinical drug candidates in 2016&ndaash;17. Therefore, the firm restates its Buy rating on the stock, with a target price of $120.

Related Link: Leerink Raises Ultragenyx Pharma's Price Target On Confidence In MPS 7 Treatment

Canaccord Genuity also expects uGAG change in the middle of this year and responder results from 12 MPS7 patients at 48 weeks, in addition to the full data presentation at a medical meeting, regulatory filings in the first quarter of 2017 and product launches in the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018.

The analysts also mentioned Ace-ER as the most likely pipeline candidate to receive approval, taking into account the positive CHMP opinion in the second half of 2016 and EMA Conditional Marketing Approval (CMA) in the first half of the next year and the 2017 data from ongoing Ph3 GNEM study.