Shares of Pfizer are tumbling Monday as the drugmaker announced it would halt its trial for a potential breast cancer treatment.
Pfizer (ticker: PFE) said its Phase 3 PALLAS Ibrance trial was unlikely to meet endpoint of improving survival rates, hence its decision to discontinue the study.
Analysts are reacting to the news, released after the bell on Friday. Cowen & Co.’s Steve Scala reiterated an Outperform rating and $48 price target on Pfizer, as he hadn’t incorporated any increased sales benefit for the drug into his estimates yet. That said, he admits that this “is a significant disappointment and opens the door for competitors who have different…agents in similar trials.”
By contrast, Citigroup’s Andrew Baum reiterated a Neutral rating and shaved $4 off his price target, to $37. He writes that while it’s unclear whether the trial failed because of the design or because of the class of drugs (or Ibrance itself), “we see the event as an important clearing event to de-risk the stock and potentially begin to form a constructive long-term thesis from a lower earnings base.”
Pfizer shares are off 10.5% in 2020, as strong earnings and potential vaccine research haven’t been enough to lift the stock, which has fallen along with peers like Merck (MRK).
With data showing that one in eight women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetimes, any potential treatment naturally garnered plenty of interest from investors; thus today’s news that the Ibrance trial has failed is not surprisingly weighing on the shares.
Pfizer is down 8.3% to $35.02 in recent trading, and it’s on pace for its largest decline in more than a decade.
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