Endocyte Shares Up More Than 100% In 2 Days, But Analyst Sees Even More Upside Possible

Shares of Endocyte, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECYT) were trading higher by more than 60 percent Tuesday afternoon at $5.82 on top of Monday's monster triple-digit-percentage return gain, but some analysts see even more upside. Wedbush's David Nierengarten upgraded Endocyte's stock rating Neutral to Outperform with a price target boosted from $2 to $7 (see his track record here).

Endocyte's stock has soared over the past two days after the company announced a new licensing deal to deliver a radioisotope cell-killing chemotherapy payload, FierceBiotech explained. The licensing agreement with Germany's ABX focuses on the company's Lu-PSMA-617 therapy, which could be used to treat approximately 80,000 patients in the late stages of the disease.

PSMA-617 could prove to have "broader opportunities and fewer hurdles" compared to Xofigo, which was approved in 2013.

"We note that Xofigo is only approved for patients with disease that has spread to the bones, and needs to be paired with another drug to address soft tissue disease, whereas PSMA-617 has shown activity in patients with PSMA+ disease in both bone and soft tissue," the analyst wrote. "Xofigo, developed by Algeta (acquired by Bayer in 2013), is on track to exceed $400M in sales this year. We note that the success of Xofigo comes despite constraints in procuring 223Ra, as long half-life of parent (227Ac and 227Th isolated from a 231Pa source) limits supply; production of 177Lu is less restricted in comparison, with multiple routes of production identified."

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