UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Raises PT on Aegerion Pharmaceuticals in Continuing Doc Rounds Series

In a report published Wednesday, J.P. Morgan analyst Cory Kasimov reiterated an Overweight rating on Aegerion Pharmaceuticals AEGR, and raised the price target from $48.00 to $69.00.

In the report, J.P. Morgan noted, “We are continuing our ‘Doc Rounds' series wherein we speak with a handful of physicians to discuss trends/impressions of different drugs. For the latest installment, we focused on AEGR's Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) drug, Juxtapid. We had detailed conversations with six docs who treat anywhere from ~3-50 HoFH patients. This is obviously a small sample size, but some themes emerged: 1) docs are impressed by Juxtapid's efficacy, do not expect tolerability to be a big issue, and generally expect to use Juxtapid more than Kynamro (based on administration and greater efficacy, as expected), 2) frequent liver monitoring is not overly burdensome and is not slowing new patient adds, 3) patient referrals are accelerating, 4) AEGR appears to be executing the launch almost seamlessly, and 5) the longer-term threat from the PCSK9 inhibitors may be somewhat overstated. Detailed notes from each physician conversation are included in the body of this note. We are maintaining our OW rating and upping our PT to $69 (from $48) based on the recent Juxtapid price increase, increased ROW sales expectations, and encouraging physician feedback.”

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals closed on Tuesday at $60.09.