UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Reiterates Overweight Rating, Raises PT on Aegerion Pharmaceuticals

In a report published Monday, J.P. Morgan & Co. reiterated its Overweight rating on Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AEGR), and raised its price target from $28.00 to $30.00.J.P. Morgan noted, “We are reiterating our OW rating on AEGR following FDA approval of Juxtapid (lomitapide) for HoFH, a potentially fatal rare disease characterized by extremely high levels of cholesterol. This event is in line with expectations (we modeled a 95% probability), albeit a few days early (Dec 29th PDUFA). Shares had rallied into this decision so we are not surprised by the initial market reaction. Importantly, the label appears to be favorable with no restrictions on the definition of HoFH (as some bears had postulated) and no surprises with the warnings/REMS. Going forward, we expect the near term outlook for AEGR shares to be driven by 3 key updates, including 1) Juxtapid pricing, which we anticipate at the time of launch in Jan; 2) details of the company's patient tracker (thus providing more context around the market opportunity) at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference; and 3) FDA decision on Juxtapid's key competitor Kynamro (mipomersen) where we currently assume approval by the 1/29 PDUFA.”Aegerion Pharmaceuticals closed on Friday at $25.71.