Company

Bank

Analyst

Coverage

Opinion

Wk chg

9/9 cls

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN)

Piper Jaffray

Edward Tenthoff

New

Overweight

4%

$5.81

Tenthoff set a $12 target on a "promising" portfolio of early HCV candidates. He expects the primary near-term value drivers to be 12-week Phase II data for ACH-1625 and Phase I data for ACH-2684 and ACH-2928, all of which are expected by year end. ACH-1625 and ACH-2928 are HCV non-structural protein 5A (NS5A) inhibitors and ACH-2684 is an HCV NS3 protease inhibitor. Tenthoff also cited the company's strong cash position. Achillion ended 2Q11 with $100M in cash, which he estimates will fund operations through 2013.

Basilea Pharmaceutica AG (SIX:BSLN)

UBS

Guillaume van Renterghem

Price target

Neutral

-9%

CHF34

van Renterghem lowered his target to CHF37 from CHF70, saying eczema drug Toctino alitretinoin is facing pricing pressure and is taking longer than expected to obtain approval in many EU countries under the decentralized procedure. He lowered his 2017 sales expectations to CHF215M, down from CHF300M. He also noted that U.S. approval of the vitamin A derived 9-cis retinoic is widely expected and already "priced in."