UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Initiates Coverage on Merrimack Pharmaceuticals

According to a research report published this morning, J.P. Morgan has initiated Merrimack Pharmaceuticals MACK with an Overweight rating and $10 PT. In the report, J.P. Morgan said, "Merrimack's proprietary Network Biology Platform has the potential to dramatically improve the productivity of drug discovery/development in oncology. Indeed, the company has a robust pipeline (5 clinical, 3 preclinical assets) with multiple opportunities across a variety of cancers. Lead asset MM-398 is a nanotherapeutic in phase 3 development for pancreatic cancer with data in mid-2013. In our view, MM-398 could be a $900M peak opportunity in the US alone given the unmet medical need. Additionally, MM-121, partnered with Sanofi, is currently in phase 2 trials for NSCLC, breast and ovarian cancer (data 2013-14) with peak sales potential of $1.3B in the US alone (driving royalties of ~$320M)." Merrimack Pharmaceuticals is currently trading at $7.54.