Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN)

[SeriousMoney]

Amylin Pharma Seen As A Top Small-Cap Pick
Forbes.com, David Ng, 11.16.05, 12:17 PM ET

Piper Jaffray reiterated an "outperform" rating and $43 target price on Amylin Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: AMLN - news - people ), saying the company is "one of our top small-cap picks" based on the prospects of its diabetes treatment, Byetta.

Amylin recently announced top-line results for a Phase III study of Byetta, demonstrating a solid placebo-adjusted reduction at the 16-week time point in patients.

The company said 62% of Byetta patients compared to 16% on placebo achieved the American Diabetes Association hemoglobin standard, HbA1c, of 7% or less.

Piper said the most common adverse event was nausea, seen in 40% of Byetta patients compared to 15% on placebo, "in-line with prior studies which have shown a rate of 45% to 51%."

The research firm said Amylin could potentially expand the label for Byetta by mid-2007.

For fiscal 2006 and 2007, Piper reiterated the loss-per-share estimates on Amylin of $1.61 and 78 cents, respectively.

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