UPDATE: Bank of America Meets with BioCryst Pharma Management on BCX4208

Bank of America has published a research report on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals BCRX after meeting with company management regarding phase 3-ready gout drug (BCX4208), where CEO Jon Stonehouse says he "he does not intend to start phase 3 without a partner and is willing to accept a back-end weighted licensing agreement to attract a big pharma partner". In the report, Bank of America writes, "Three sets of immune response data were released on Monday from the 24 week allopurinol add-on phase 2b extension study. (1) lymphocyte counts at the end of the 24 week study were unchanged from the 12 week levels for the 5, 10, and 20 mg arms (40mg arm discontinued due to stopping rules), (2) no imbalance in infection adverse events after 24 weeks, and (3) two vaccine challenges to assess T-cell and B-cell immune responses were equal or better in the ‘4208 arms than placebo (see Charts 1 and 2), and consistent with healthy responses. Efficacy results were similar to the 12-week data, with ~50% of patients reaching serum uric acid <6mg/dL. While efficacy is more modest than RDEA's lesinurad, ‘4208 may be more suitable for patients on concomitant medications." Bank of America maintains its Buy rating and $6 price objective on BioCryst, which is currently trading up $0.16 from yesterday's $2.51 closing price.