Bank of America Reiterates Underperform Rating on Idenix Pharmaceuticals Following FDA Suspension Announcement

In a report published Friday, Bank of America analyst Rachel McMinn reiterated an Underperform rating and $3.00 price target on Idenix Pharmaceuticals IDIX.

In the report, Bank of America noted, “Last evening IDIX announced that the FDA has put clinical development of its early-stage nuc prodrug candidate, IDX20963, on hold pending additional preclinical safety data. At best, this setback makes it highly unlikely IDIX will meet its goal of starting combination studies by YE with its NS5a inhibitor, and possibly, IDIX will need to reach deeper into its nuc discovery efforts to find a cleaner HCV nuc candidate. On one hand, this news shouldn't be a surprise to investors given the FDA's highly cautious stance on early stage nucs over the past year. On the other hand, IDIX is very surprised by FDA's concern, as it had expressed strong conviction that this time around on IDX963 it had provided the FDA with all necessary safety information to advance into the clinic. We have intentionally not assigned any value in our $3 PO for ‘963 given our conservative stance on early stage nucs as well as IDIX's track record.”

Idenix Pharmaceuticals closed on Thursday at $3.66.