UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises PT to $9 on Rigel Pharmaceuticals Ahead of Fostamatinib Readout

Piper Jaffray maintained Rigel Pharmaceuticals

with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $8.00 to $9.00. Piper Jaffray commented, "While shares have been volatile following OSKIRA-4, we continue to believe fostamatinib is an approvable drug. Bears can point to fostamatinib's failure to achieve non-inferiority compared to Humira, however we note that the Humira ACR20 score of 59% was well above what was seen in the tofacitinib trial (36%), with management commentary suggesting fostamatinib's score approached that of Humira. In addition, we note that no new safety signals emerged. We believe fostamatinib's near miss on efficacy, combined with potential to demonstrate radiographic benefit in Phase III, provide an opportunity for shares to recover." Rigel Pharmaceuticals closed at $6.82 on Monday.