Citigroup Initiates Pharmasset with a Buy; Price Target $34 (VRUS)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 10:14
Written on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 10:14am
By Chip Brian

3/16/2010-Citigroup initiated coverage of Pharmasset (NASDAQ:VRUS) with a Buy rating and a $34 price target as the bank believes the company's RG7128 should become a major drug in the lucrative hepatitis C market.
Analyst Yaron Werber, MD remarked, "We believe that RG7128 (currently in ph 2b) will become a backbone of therapy due to its synergistic mechanism of action with other novel drugs. We anticipate ph 3 starting by late 2011 with approval in 2014. Thus, while the drug is behind VRTX's telaprevir and MRK's boceprevir (approval in 2011), it will not necessarily be competitive, but can be used in combination."
Werber continued, "Our est ~$3B in global sales for RG7128 in 2018 are conservative as they imply a modest 18%-20% peak share. This should drive profitability in 2015."

Keywords: pharmasset Citigroup initiation buy price target

Ticker(s): VRUS

Contact Chip Brian



Smartrend analyzes over 5,000 securities simultaneously throughout the trading day and provides its subscribers with trend change alerts in real time. To get a free trial of our trading calls and maximize your trading results, please visit http://www.mysmartrend.com.

Get exclusive, actionable insight into how the market is expected to trend prior to market open with our free morning newsletter. Sign up at http://www.mysmartrend.com/morning-call-newsletter-signup.