G-BA Issues 4-Rating on InterMune's Esbriet, Jefferies Maintains Underform

Jefferies & Company has published a research report on InterMune ITMN after Germany's Federal Joint Committee released its final assessment on Esbriet. In the report, Jefferies writes, "This morning Germany's Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) issued final assessment on clinical benefit of Esbriet (pirfenidone) with rating score of "4 - unquantifiable benefits"; no change in our view of Esbriet marginally efficacious at best. Rating of "4" corresponds to an "additional benefit but not quantifiable," which is one level above the IQWiG's (Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care) previous preliminary assessment of "no added value assigned" (rating 5). Under the German pricing law AMNOG (Arzneimittelmarkt-Neuordnungsgesetz), effective since January 1, 2011, G-BA assigns a rating score to newly introduced drugs to inform pricing negotiations." Jefferies maintains its Underperform rating and $10 price target on InterMune, which is currently trading up $1.21 from yesterday's $14.80 closing price.