UPDATE: Barclays Initiates Coverage On Regeneron

Geoffrey Meacham of Barclays initiated coverage of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN on Tuesday with an Equal-Weight rating and $450 price target as approval and modest growth profile of key drugs are already expected by investors.

Based on Meacham's survey of 50 U.S. cardiologists, Eylea sales in 2015 have “only modest upside potential” while approval for Praluent should happen in the second half of 2015, but initial adoption could prove to be “modest.” In addition, the analyst also notes that the company's pipeline for 2015 has “fewer surprises.”

Meacham expects additional data for dupilumab which should define the Phase 3 program, but this is a “long way” from being a fully de-risked asset. A BLA is being filed for sarilumab by the end of 2015, but the analyst doesn't expect Phase 3 data to materially alter its differentiation in the RA market.

Meacham states that the Street is projecting a 22 percent earnings growth in 2015. The analyst states that upside to these projections could be “tougher” and clearly won't be of the magnitude seen in 2012 and 2013.