Synergy Hits Endpoints, Earns A Price Target Bump At Rodman & Renshaw

Rodman & Renshaw’s Raghuram Selvaraju believes the top-line data announced by Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SGYP) from the first pivotal trial for plecanatide in constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C) positions the pipeline candidate as a “potentially best-in-class drug.”

Selvaraju maintains a Buy rating on the company, while raising the price target from $16 to $17.

Positive Results

After market close on December 22, Synergy Pharmaceuticals announced positive results from the second pivotal trial for its lead drug, plecanatide in IBS-C.

“Preliminary analysis of the data indicates that both the 3mg and 6mg once-daily doses of plecanatide met the study’s primary endpoint and showed statistical significance in the percentage of patients who were overall responders vs. placebo during the 12-week treatment period,” the analyst mentioned.

The data also revealed that the rates of withdrawal due to adverse events were low, with diarrhea being the most common adverse event, occurring in 5.4 percent of the patients on 3mg and 4.3 percent of the patients in the 6mg group.

Approval Likely

“In the wake of this positive data, we are increasing our probability of approval in IBS-C from 85 percent to 95 percent,” Selvaraju stated.

The analyst believes the data will also give the company a marketing edge when the drug is approved.

At last check in Friday's pre-market session, the stock was up 4.64 percent at $4.96.