Kezar sheds 14% after R&D event as William Blair downgrades
Mar. 16, 2023 10:24 AM ETKezar Life Sciences, Inc. (KZR)By: Dulan Lokuwithana, SA News Editor2 Comments
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- Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR) lost ~14% on Thursday morning after William Blair downgraded the clinical-stage biotech to Market Perform from Outperform following management comments at the company’s R&D event yesterday.
- The analyst Matt Phipps attributed his decision to a lack of near-term catalysts for Kezar’s (KZR) lead candidate, zetomipzomib, targeted at multiple chronic immune-mediated diseases, including lupus nephritis.
- The company is studying zetomipzomib in mid-stage trials called PALIZADE and PORTOLA for active lupus nephritis and autoimmune hepatitis, respectively.
- Phipps notes that the company guided the PALIZADE data to mid-2026 and PORTOLA data to mid-2025, “which leave a gap in zeto clinical catalysts that we believe will limit share price upside in the near term.”
- However, the analyst remains positive on PALIZADE readout and cites zetomipzomib’s potential in LN, given a previous readout for the candidate from the company’s mid-stage MISSION trial.
- Seeking Alpha contributor, Zach Bristow downgraded Kezar (KZR) in November after Kezar (KZR) released the full data set from the MISSION trial.