Brookline Capital Markets initiated coverage of Bellerophon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BLPH) with a “buy” rating and $35 price target. The stock closed at $11.91 on April 13.
Bellerophon is developing inhaled nitric oxide therapy for pulmonary diseases and COVID-19. Its pulsatile nitric oxide delivery platform is the INOpulse, which ensures efficient delivery of nitric oxide to the lungs.
Analyst Sally Yanchus writes that Bellerophon has been granted emergency expanded access by the FDA for INOpulse to treat COVID-19. Nitric oxide is critical to the immune response, she noted, and “in vitro studies have shown that nitric oxide inhibits the replication of severe acute respiratory coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and improves survival of cells infected with the virus.”
Bellerophon has already begun dosing COVID-19 patients with its INOpulse system, she added.
Ms. Yanchus estimates the main pulmonary disease indication of interstitial lung disease potentially is $3.1-billion and the COVID-19 opportunity is worth $250-millon.
