Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN)

[SeriousMoney]

Amylin Still Has Edge Over Novo Nordisk In Diabetes
Forbes.com, David Ng, 11.28.05, 2:26 PM ET

Piper Jaffray reiterated an "outperform" rating and $43 target price on Amylin Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: AMLN - news - people ), saying the company's diabetes treatments still have the upper hand over the competing product from Novo Nordisk (nyse: NVO - news - people ).

"We believe that Amylin will continue to hold multiple competitive advantages with its Byetta franchise, including more convenient dosing frequency, timeline and first mover advantage," Piper analyst Thomas Wei wrote in a note to investors.

Novo Nordisk's liraglutide has shown "impressive" results for phase IIb trials, according to Piper. The research firm added that liraglutide has reached "the gold standard measure" for glycemic control.

"On safety, the drug appeared well tolerated, with a low 5% to 10% rate of nausea and no hypoglycemia reported," Piper said.

Novo Nordisk recently reiterated its intent to initiate a 3,800-patient, Phase III program in February 2006, according to the research firm.

Piper believes Amylin can obtain regulatory approval for its long-acting release exenatide treatment with a much smaller patient database, thus potentially beating Novo Nordisk to market.

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