Roth Capital Partners raised its price target for Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) to $82 from $62 ahead of interim results in late December from the company’s Phase 2b NASH trial.
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is liver inflammation and damage caused by a build up of fat in the liver.
“We performed in-depth analyses and delved into several nuances, investigating MGL-3196’s ability to hit the anti-steatotic effect out of the park, the translatability of its fat-lowering to anti-fibrotic effect, outstanding trial design ensuring positive readout, and validation of its mechanism of action in NASH,” writes analyst Yasmeen Rahimi.
The company’s MGL-3196 drug candidate, unlike others, is designed to target every gene in the lipid pathway, and therefore is most likely to achieve the highest hepatic fat lowering effect, he added.
“Everyone is keeping a close eye on MDGL, especially large Pharma, Mr. Rahimi said. “Historically, year-end has been a lucrative time for large Pharma to strike a deal. With recent disappointing results from Gilead’s GS-0976, we believe Gilead is likely looking to buy, especially for a molecule with robust lipid-lowering effects,” he added.
