Roth Puts A 'Buy' On Biotie...Firm Excited About 'Best In Class Treatment' For Parkinson's

In a report published Monday, Roth Capital analyst Elemer Piros initiated coverage of

with a Buy rating and price target of $26. The analyst believes that the company is in the process of developing "best in class treatment" for Parkinson's disease. There is a large unmet need that Biotie's tozadenant, a unique adenosine A2A receptor antagonist, is likely to help meet. The problem at present is that while patients with Parkinson's disease are treated with multiple drugs, over time, the effects of these drugs wear off and patients suffer from symptoms from the time a drug wears of and till the next dose. Tozadenant could help reduce such "off time," along with a meaningful reduction in motor symptoms. "While other A2A antagonists produced mixed results in terms of efficacy, tozadenant stands out because of its superior half-life and receptor occupancy," analyst Piros stated. According to the Roth Capital report, "Biotie struck an agreement with the FDA on the design of the Phase 3 pivotal program, as a precursor to potential approval. According to the Special Protocol Assessment, a 450-patient, randomized, placebo-controlled trial coupled with the previously published Phase 2b study could be sufficient for approval in the US." The pivotal trial is scheduled to begin in 3Q15, and Biotie expects to announce the topline results by end-2017.