UPDATE: William Blair Initiates Coverage on Pharmacyclics on Good Market Position for Ibrutinib

In a report published Tuesday, William Blair & Company analyst Y. Katherine Xu initiated coverage on Pharmacyclics PCYC with an Outperform rating and $143.00 price target. In the report, William Blair & Company noted, “Pharmacyclics' ibrutinib is positioned to be the first of a new wave of agents ready to transform the treatment of B-cell malignancies, and we believe ibrutinib could become the largest product in hematology oncology history. We rate Pharmacyclics Outperform with a price target of $143 based on the following: 1) ibrutinib's mechanism of action allows it to address almost all B-cell malignancies, the largest patient pool among hematological malignancies; 2) ibrutinib has the best combined efficacy and safety profile among competitors and is also the first to market; 3) expanding indications as well as pushing usage from the relapsed/refractory setting to the frontline and maintenance settings will result in a gradual increase of treatment duration, which translates into increased sales potential; 4) ibrutinib's profile should allow it to become the preferred backbone for future combination regimens; and 5) there is a lack of competition within the class of BTK inhibitors.” Pharmacyclics closed on Monday at $120.76.