By Sam Boughedda
On Thursday, AVROBIO Inc (NASDAQ:AVRO) held its virtual Gaucher Day event, with analysts reacting mostly positively.
Mizuho analysts maintained a Buy rating and $6 per share price target on the stock following the event, stating that Gaucher Day "didn't disappoint."
"What we heard was overall positive and generally in line with our expectations. AVROBIO even threw in a surprise by presenting encouraging data from a named Gaucher disease type 3 (GD3) patient," wrote the analysts. "We believe AVROBIO has a path forward for its late-stage HSC gene therapy for Gaucher disease, AVR-RD-02, which could have a significant commercial head start on competitors.
The analysts added that the company delivered on their expectations, and the stock weakness during the past couple of days was likely due to selling on the news and concerns about dilutive financing after the Gaucher event.
AVRO shares are down around 0.2% Thursday after a 5% decline on Tuesday and a 7% fall on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, BTIG upgraded AVROBIO shares to Buy from Neutral with a $4 price target based on the positive Gaucher update.
"We believe this morning's update, from four Gaucher disease type 1 (GD1) patients that received AVR-RD-02 treatment in the ongoing Phase 1/2 Guard1 study and one type 3 (GD3) patient treated on named-patient basis in the UK, support AVROBIO's lentiviral gene therapy programs' promising potential in lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs)," said BTIG analysts.
"This morning's Gaucher data, although still from a limited number of patients and after modest follow-up periods (two years for patient 1 and one year for patient 2 as of November, and 15 months for the GD3 patient as of June, whose dosing had never been disclosed by AVROBIO before), still justify the re-inclusion of the program into valuation," the analysts added.
Finally, Stifel maintained a Hold rating and $2 price target on the stock, stating there was no change to the firm's thesis following the Gaucher disease event.
"Data spanning GD1 (n=4; n=6 enrolled) and GD3 (n=1) can be promising, but questions on next steps (Ph.2/3 GD3 study initiation 2H23), execution and commercial implications (i.e., TAM), all with the backdrop of a cautious investor sentiment towards lentiviral (LV) gene therapy, means volatility in shares before appropriate value can be ascribed, in our view," the analysts wrote.