UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades Sarepta Therapeutics to Underweight, Lowers PT After FDA Reverses View on Eteplirsen NDA Filing

In a report published Tuesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Edward A. Tenthoff downgraded the rating on Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT from Overweight to Underweight, and lowered the price target from $58.00 to $20.00. In the report, Piper Jaffray noted, “In a negative surprise this morning, the FDA has reversed its view on eteplirsen and now views the NDA submission on the existing Phase IIb data as ‘premature'. We expect the agency will now require a confirmatory study with 2-year follow-up pushing out potential approval to late 2017/early 2018 from our prior expectation of late 2014. Sarepta ended 3Q:13 with $281 million in cash, having likely exercised some of an outstanding ATM in the quarter. We are downgrading Sarepta to Underweight from Overweight and cutting our price target to $20 from $58 due to the push out in approval.” Sarepta Therapeutics closed on Monday at $36.56.