Piper Jaffray Reiterates Overweight on Rigel Pharmaceuticals ahead of Phase III Data

Piper Jaffray reiterates its Overweight rating on Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

in a research report published today. Piper's target price of $16.00 remains unchanged. After Rigel's release of 4Q11 earnings and a review of its expanding early-stage pipeline, Piper Jaffray stated that the drug “fostamatinib, currently in Phase III trials for rheumatoid arthritis, could generate peak sales of $1-2bn in RA alone with Rigel collecting a 25-35% royalty at no cost. Thus, we recommend investors buy RIGL shares ahead of Phase III data (expected in YE12) given what we believe to be a favorable risk/reward ratio and one of the largest potential sources of upside in our coverage universe.” Shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals were trading at $9.71 when the market closed yesterday.