Conatus Pharma Could Nearly Quadruple, According To H.C. Wainwright Targets

• The share price of Conatus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CNAT has declined 30.77 percent year-to-date.
• HC Wainwright’s Ed Arce has initiated coverage of Conatus Pharmaceuticals with a Buy rating and price target of $15.
• Arce believes that the company’s first-in-class oral treatment for liver disease, Emricasan, has “disease modifying potential."

According to the HC Wainwright report, “Emricasan is a first-in-class, orally active pan-caspase protease inhibitor designed to reduce the activity of all ten human caspases, which are enzymes that mediate two key pathways in liver damage: inflammation and apoptosis.”

In the Phase 2b trials, the drug showed statistically significant, rapid, consistent and sustained reduction in the elevated biomarker levels of inflammation and cell death. These biomarkers have been found to be associated with the severity and progression of liver disease.

Emricasan is the only drug being developed to specifically work on reducing the levels of these biomarkers. The success of the drug in reducing the levels of these biomarkers, as demonstrated in the Phase 1 and 2 trials strengthens confidence “in both emricasan’s unique dual mechanism of action and its significant therapeutic utility across the spectrum of liver disease,” according to Arce.

Arce expects market adoption for the drug, both as monotherapy and in combination with other treatments. The company has now refined the focus of its Phase 2 trials to liver cirrhosis. The drug is expected address a high unmet need.

“Given the broad therapeutic potential of emricasan across the spectrum of liver disease, we find the current valuation of CNAT shares compelling,” Arce added.