UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Reduces PT to $23 on InterMune

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated its Buy rating on InterMune

but reduced its price target from $31 to $23. Stifel Nicolaus noted, "Esbriet sales of $5.5 million were well-below our/Consensus $8.3/7.8 million estimates – weakness management attributed to 1) continued negative pull-through from the 1Q12 negative IQWiG headlines and physician uncertainty over reimbursement; 2) higher-than-expected patient discontinuation rates of approximately 30% (was 20% in CAPACITY/RECAP trials); and 3) a retrospective evaluation of quarterly new patient starts indicating previously-reported figures were overestimated by approximately 15%." InterMune closed at $9.91 on Monday.