Brean Initiates Alder BioPharma At Buy, $45 Price Target

Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc ALDR reported positive Phase 2b results for its lead product candidate ALD403, a novel monoclonal antibody in development for migraine prevention. Brean Capital’s Jonathan Aschoff initiated coverage of the company with a Buy rating and a price target of $45.

Solid Pipeline

Alder BioPharma has a solid pipeline of products targeting the markets for migraine and RA. “Frequent episodic migraine of and chronic migraine represent a combined market opportunity of up to $8-10 billion annually, and global RA drug sales are more than $12 billion annually,” analyst Jonathan Aschoff wrote.

Aschoff expects ALD403 to begin selling for chronic migraine and frequent episodic migraine in 2018 and 2019 in the US and EU, respectively, and to generate about $1 billion in global revenue in 2022.

Alder BioPharma’s second novel monoclonal antibody candidate, Clazakizumab, is in development for RA and PsA and “it works by inhibiting the IL-6 ligand,” the analyst mentioned. The company is now seeking a partner to continue development of Clazakizumab.

Alder BioPharma is expected to receive a 10-20 percent royalty on global clazakizumab sales after the drug’s expected launch in 2020, Aschoff mentioned.