Cantor Raises Price Target For Paratek Pharma, Sees 82% Upside

Cantor Fitzgerald has raised its price target on the shares of Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: PRTK) to $30 (82 percent upside) from $27 after the company announced positive data from the Phase 3 trial of Omadacycline in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI).

The clinical trial met all the primary and secondary endpoints designated by the FDA and EMA. Additional data will likely be coming though next year.

"We believe that these positive results allow for a de-risking of the Phase 3 CABP trial set to read out in 3Q:17 and more importantly the oral-only ABSSSI trial which is expected to initiate in 3Q:16," analyst Chiara Russo wrote in a note.

Russo maintains that Omadacycline's differentiation occurs in the oral-only community setting, which is larger than the acute space, but it is much less crowded.

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"We believe that the ~700 patient oral-only Phase 3 trial will enroll quickly (~10 months) and allow for an additional indication on the NDA expected in 1H:18," Russo added.

The analyst, who has a Buy rating on the stock, is now waiting for the Phase 3 data from Seracycline, which is expected in the second half of 2016. The initiation of the Phase 3 in oral-only ABSSSI is expected in the third quarter, with the start of a Phase 1b in sinusitis is expected in the second half.

As the company closed first quarter with $112 million in cash, Russo believes Paratek will return to the capital markets to fund additional development.

Paratek closed Friday's regular trading session up 3.28 percent at $16.98.