Mizuho Upgrades Rating, Acadia Pharmaceuticals Stock Price Rises

Investing.com – Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACAD) stock rose 1.9% pre-market on Monday, after Mizuho analyst Uy Ear upgraded the stock from Neutral to Outperform, raising the target price from $29.00 to $35.00.

The upgrade was driven by the analyst’s belief that the market has underestimated the potential of the company’s candidate drug remlifanserin (ACP-204) for treating psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease, based on the Phase 2 RADIANT trial.

Ear commented that investors are still overly focused on the disappointing results of pimavanserin in the Phase 3 HARMONY trial for Alzheimer’s disease psychosis in 2019. The analyst believes that the trial lacked sufficient statistical power and used a suboptimal dose of 34 mg. Remlifanserin is described as a more potent and safer second-generation version of pimavanserin.

The analyst noted that the observed efficacy in the Phase 2 pimavanserin trial was encouraging, showing a 1.84-point improvement in NPI-NH scores at week 6 compared to placebo, slightly below the 2 to 3-point clinical significance threshold suggested by key opinion leaders. The analyst believes that the RADIANT trial, with appropriate statistical power design and the use of a higher 60 mg dose to enhance efficacy, will further reduce risks.

Mizuho’s valuation assumptions for remlifanserin’s peak sales, unadjusted and adjusted, are $2.5 billion and $1.6 billion respectively, contributing $10 to the target price on a risk-adjusted basis. This is offset by the removal of EU Daybue sales and potential pricing pressures on Nuplazid under the Inflation Reduction Act.

This article was translated with AI assistance. For more information, see our Terms of Use.