Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) gained 5% Thursday after AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) announced the decision to discontinue its cystic fibrosis (CF) program. The news, according to JPMorgan analysts, re-affirms Vertex's dominant CF position.
"Net-net, we believe today's update removes a key competitive threat and re-affirms VRTX’s dominant position within the CF market, where we expect continued growth for Trikafta, which the FDA recently approved for children ages 2-5 with certain mutations (an additional ~900 addressable patients according to VRTX)," the analysts commented in a note to clients.
They added that the update "removes an event that carried non-zero risk in between now and a string of updates from VRTX’s own portfolio allowing cleaner line of site to ph III data for VRTX’s next-gen CF triple, phase III data for VX-548 in pain, and exa-cel regulatory decision."
Overall, the analysts see this as a "dynamic time" for Vertex as the pipeline becomes increasingly de-risked. The firm reiterated an Overweight rating on the stock.