UPDATE: Bank of America Downgrades Optimer Pharmaceuticals to Underperform on Outlook

Bank of America lowered its rating on Optimer Pharmaceuticals

from Buy to Underperform and reduced its price objective from $18 to $15. Bank of America commented, "„Lowering peak penetration estimates Following a slowdown in Dificid script trends and feedback from the recent ICAAC conference, we have a more cautious outlook for Dificid in Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). We lowered our projected peak penetration in hospitals from 25% to 20%, in line with our estimate for LTC facilities, which may still be aggressive. The recent new technology add-on payment assigned to Dificid by CMS could encourage more hospital use, but is not enough to offset our current concerns." Optimer Pharmaceuticals closed at $15.75 on Monday.