Roth Capital Partners initiated coverage of LogicBio Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LOGC) with a “buy” rating and $26 price target. The stock closed at $13.61 on April 30.
LogicBio’s bread and butter is GeneRide, a one-of-a-kind technology that exploits natural homologous recombination for gene editing, writes analyst Yasmeen Rahimi.
She said the GeneRide platform uniquely takes advantage of a naturally occurring response that the body has to breaks in DNA to insert therapeutic genetic material at a specific location.
“Specifically, GeneRide is a DNA vector enclosed in a viral capsid that is non-pathogenic and delivered only to specific tissue,” she added. “Once GeneRide is proven in a specific tissue, LogicBio can treat multiple indications, expanding its commercial value.”
Ms. Rahimi also said that GeneRide addresses the shortcomings of other genetic medicines, which require multiple components for gene editing or introduce the risk of activating oncogenes.
GeneRide has published data in three liver conditions: hemophilia B, alpha-1 anti-trypsin disease, and Crigler-Najjar syndrome.
Ms. Rahimi said LogicBio’s LB-001 for methylmalonic academia is the most advanced, with promising biomarker reductions and weight gain in mice; newly awarded FDA orphan drug designation; and an expected IND filing in the fourth quarter of 2019.
