Analyst Sees This Epilepsy Player As 'M&A Sweet Spot' - Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE)

Raymond James initiated coverage on Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc XENE with an Outperform rating and a $52 price target.
The analyst writes that the company represents a rare opportunity with significant unrealized value for their de-risked potentially blockbuster epilepsy drug, XEN1101.
Given that epilepsy data are highly reproducible, there is minimal risk to success for XEN1101 in its lead focal onset seizure (FOS) indication.
Related: Xenon's Epilepsy Candidate Rapidly Reduces Focal Onset Seizure Frequency.
According to Raymond James, FOS represents over $1 billion opportunity at its peak.
"While Phase 3 data are not expected until late 2024, we note that epilepsy has been an active space for M&A. Considering the magnitude of unrealized value for XEN1101, we believe XENE is an attractive target. We also think additional value inflection is possible from PoC data in MDD in 2H23," the analyst added.
Price Action: XENE shares are trading lower by 1.31% at $35.06 on the last check Wednesday.