Data Monitoring Committee Determines Alnylam's ENDEAVOUR Trial May Continue

Morgan Stanley in a research note released Monday noted that the Data Monitoring Committee has recommended Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NASDAQ: ALNY) continue with the trail without modification, following examination of safety data from the Phase III hATTR-PN trial. That said, the firm believes investors will likely wait for full data before getting comfortable.

DMC's Green Light

Analyst David Lebowitz pointed out that Alnylam had directed its DMC to conduct an interim assessment of the Phase 3 APOLLO trial for patisiran for the treatment of hereditary amyloidosis with polyneuropathy to evaluate for safely. This follows a DMC recommendation that the phase 3 ENDEAVOUR trial be discontinued due to an imbalance of deaths between the experimental and control arms.

Related Link: Alnylam Shares Expected To Be Range Bound As Street Digests Drug Study Discontinuation

On Track For Mid-2017 Data Presentation

Morgan Stanley noted that the management is confident of a mid-2017 date for data presentation from this Phase III trial. The DMC is expected to meet periodically to evaluate the safety of the drug through the trial's conclusion, the firm said.

Shares To Be Range Bound

The firm sees the company's shares to be range bound in the coming months, given challenges with revusiran, the discontinuation of ALN-AAT due to elevated liver enzymes as well as other AEs. Some of the questions concerning revusiran for which investors would seek answers are whether the challenges associated with it are drug-specific, TTR-mechanism specific or platform specific.

Morgan Stanley has an Equal-Weight rating on the shares of the company and a $36 price target.

At last check, Alnylam shares were up 3.38 percent at $35.41.

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