Piper Jaffray Downgrading Optimer Pharmaceuticals To Neutral (OPTR)

Piper Jaffray is downgrading shares of Optimer Pharmaceuticals OPTR to Neutral and lowering its price target all the way down to $10 from $17 after the usage of its drug fidaxomicin appears to be more restricted than initially thought. In the report Piper Jaffray states, "Optimer filed an MAA for fidaxomicin for the treatment of C. difficile infection (CDI) in Europe and plans to file an NDA in the U.S. in September or October. We expect Optimer to sign an O.U.S. marketing partnership to help fund U.S. launch by itself in 2011. However, we are reducing our market forecast for fidaxomicin based on more restricted use, mainly to CDI treatment failure patients. As a result, we are reducing our price target to $10 from $17 and downgrading OPTR shares to Neutral from Overweight." In early Thursday trade, Optimer Pharmaceuticals are down 7 cents to $9.08.