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Investing.com -- Sarepta Therapeutics came under pressure after two brokerages slashed their price targets and downgraded the stock, flagging mounting safety, regulatory, and credibility concerns around its gene therapy platform following a third patient death.
Mizuho (NYSE:MFG) cut Sarepta (NASDAQ:SRPT) to Neutral from Buy and halved its price target to $14 from $40, citing the risk that the fatal liver failure case.
The firm also pointed to the FDA’s abrupt reversal on July 19, when the agency asked Sarepta to halt shipments of Elevidys after initially supporting its continued use with a black box warning.
Mizuho also removed SRP-9003 from its model and raised the discount rate across Sarepta’s pipeline to reflect heightened risk.
Leerink went further, downgrading the stock to Market Perform from Outperform and cutting its target to $10 from $45, warning that Elevidys could face full market withdrawal.
The firm said it could no longer recommend Sarepta “under any circumstances,” citing management’s dismissal of the third death’s materiality and lack of transparency on safety signals.
Leerink questioned whether the company could still identify a viable patient population and noted that Sarepta may become a regulatory cautionary tale under new FDA leadership.
"We have significant concerns with management’s credibility, and it is plausible that Elevidys may be entirely removed from the market," analysts at Leerink said.
Both brokerages reduced their longer-term sales forecasts for Elevidys and flagged growing investor skepticism about the company’s pipeline viability and ability to manage safety risks.
Shares of Sarepta were down 4.4% at $13.42.