Disc Medicine gains 19% as Raymond James upgrades on data for lead asset
franckreporter
Disc Medicine (NASDAQ:IRON) added ~19% in the morning hours as Raymond James upgraded it to Strong Buy from Outperform, citing initial data the biotech shared from a Phase 2 trial for its lead candidate, bitopertin, on Friday.
The oral glycine transporter 1 (GlyT1) inhibitor showed early evidence of efficacy in a Phase 2 open-label trial for patients with rare genetic disorders, erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) and X-linked protoporphyria (XLP), the company said.
EPP and XLP are characterized by the accumulation of a toxic compound called protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) which leads to adverse reactions when exposed to sunlight.
Citing topline data from 15 subjects from its BEACON trial, IRON said that patients on bitopertin indicated more than 40% of mean reductions in PPIX compared to baseline. Their average weekly time spent in sunlight increased to 1,200 minutes at week 24 from 344 minutes.
In reaction to the readout, which was part of a presentation at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2023 Congress in Germany, Raymond James analyst Danielle Brill upgraded Disc Medicine (IRON), raising its price target to $75 from $50 per share.
The analyst expects that “these promising results” will be validated in an ongoing placebo-controlled study scheduled for a topline readout in Q1 2024.