Roth's Pantginis Downgrades Sunesis, Price Target Smashed To $1.00 On 'Many Outstanding Questions'

In a report published Friday, Roth Capital Partners analyst Joseph Pantginis downgraded the rating on

from Buy to Sell, while reducing the price target from $5.50 to $1. "Sunesis provided the much anticipated regulatory updates from both the FDA and EMA with mixed results, though we believe the net outcome is poor for the vosaroxin investment case. The FDA said "nay" regarding a vosaroxin NDA filing with more data required and the EMA Rapporteurs said "yay" regarding an MAA filing," analyst Joseph Pantginis wrote. Pantginis pointed out that there were "too many open questions for vosaroxin looking forward." There was "an apparent switch in tenor" by the FDA, since it had approved other drugs on subpopulation data. Since there was "no visibility" on the way ahead for vosaroxin in the US, it cannot be included in Roth Capital's valuation, which now would focus "only on the E.U. opportunity, for which we only assign a 15% chance of success (down from 20%)," the report said. "While the company tried to provide some information regarding early pipeline assets, we do not believe the Street is prepared to place value on them," Pantginis mentioned.