Deutsche Bank: No Big Move In FY15 For Intercept Pharmaceuticals

Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc ICPT investors will have to wait out 2015 to learn the fate of its lead drug candidate.

Deutsche Bank's Althia Young maintained a Buy rating on the company Thursday, but slashed her price target by 40 percent to $300.

The company's shares are down more than 30 percent in the past three months and traded recently at $154.54, off 4 percent on the day.

Intercept's liver disease drug candidate obeticholic acid, or OCA, still faces regulatory and safety hurdles as well as uncertainty about its potential market size.

"Basically, we don't think there will be enough information to really move the stock in 2015," Young said.

French drugmaker Genfit SA is expected to release experimental data on a competing drug in March and Young said until then, Intercept shares may suffer an "overhang."

"The one thing we are confident about is that Intercept shares will not end 2015 at $150 a share," Young said.