Cantor Initiates Aerie Pharma at Buy - 'Wouldn't Be Surprised If Aerie Became Takeover Candidate'

Cantor Fitzgerald's Elemer Piros initiated

at Buy with a price target of $44.00. "Aerie could dominate the glaucoma market with drugs that have novel mechanisms of action" said Piros. Glaucoma is a disease that is popular in the United States, but has not seen any approved innovation in the drug treatment market for over two decades. According to the analyst, 3.5 million Americans have Glaucoma and "no new agents have been approved for 20 years."

Sales from Aerie's Rhopressa and Roclatan drugs could approach $1.5 billion with a 8-12 percent market penetration. "Based on this we would not be surprised if Aerie became a takeover candidate upon successful achievement of regulatory milestones or perhaps even before" said Piros. At the time of writing, Aerie Pharmaceuticals was trading up 7.56 percent at $19.06.