It’s rare that a company turns into a billion dollar stronghold overnight. However, Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT), the company focused on developing commercial solutions to treat chronic liver disease, recently announced the extraordinary success of their latest drug, obeticholic acid, to treat liver disease. The drug, apparently, was working so well that the company even halted the drug trial after only 50% of patients were treated. Following this news, the stock climbed from $72 to $497 during trading on Thursday and Friday, valuing the company at $9 billion! With a commercial answer to treat liver disease well on its way, analysts are eager to recommend BUY ICPT.
Analyst Yaron Werber of Citigroup, recognizes the extreme need for such a treatment and gladly recommends BUY ICPT. Yaron points out that an “estimated 10-15% of the US population has some level of early stages of NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis/liver fibrosis) and ~6M (in the US alone) of these have a more advanced form of NASH preceding liver cirrhosis.” Because, “there are no approved drugs for treatment, and OCA is the first agent to show a benefit here and is now positioned to establish itself as the standard of care.” Yaron adds that, “liver fibrosis has long been a target for large pharma/biotech and the scarcity of other drugs makes ICPT an attractive acquisition target.” Yaron has a 67% success rate of recommendations with a +3.1% average return over S&P-500.
Needham analyst Alan Carr agrees with the promising news from Intercept Pharma and recommends BUY ICPT as well. Alan boosted his price target from $55 to $320 citing the company’s positive announcements, “Intercept provided a corporate update yesterday, highlighted by a surprisingly strong efficacy signal seen in an interim analysis of the Phase 2 Obeticholic Acid (OCA) trial in NASH. The trial was stopped early as a result. Positive final results from Phase 2 OCA trials in Portal Hypertension (PESTO) and Bile Acid Diarrhea (OBADIAH) were also announced.” Alan has a +4.4% average return over S&P-500 and 53% success rate of recommendations.
And James Molloy also acknowledges the large population in need of a such a drug, recommending BUY ICPT during these ideal circumstances. James noted that, “By any estimates this is a huge, huge untreated population that is facing either liver transplant or death, with no FDA approved therapies currently available.” And, due to the lack of available treatments, “[Intercept] wouldn’t need to have much penetration into this massive market to have a real blockbuster drug on their hands.” James has an +18.7% average return over S&P-500 with a 75% success rate of recommend stocks.
A widespread, commercial answer to liver disease may be years away, but ICPT has released enough positive results to have analysts eager to BUY their stock. To continue following ICPT’s journey based on analyst recommendations, download TipRanks, and start making informed financial decisions today.
