Boston, MA 04/07/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)‘s free-fall driven by its idea of continuing late-stage trial of its prostate cancer drug appears to have come to a halt since the time analyst at Piper Jaffray encouraged buyers in the stock. Apart from this, the company recently received European commission’s approval for its Thyroid cancer drug.
Piper’s Upgrade Helped
Exelixis’s shares closed positive on Friday, recording a gain of 1.12% after the analyst at Piper Jaffray placed an ‘overweight’ rating on the stock and mentioned price target of $11. The research firm opines that the current market level of the company has reached a bottom and thus, it’s appropriate to start buying activity. It is to be noted that the shares of the company have shed more than 56% since the time it stated its intentions to take the late-stage study of its prostate cancer drug forward, disappointing investors, who hoped for an early end of the study trial.
While the plan of extension of the trial does not indicate failure of the drug, investors were concerned if the company’s drug will be able to outshine or even compete with prostate cancer therapies offered by its competitors like Zytiga by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The depression over the extension of clinical study can also be referenced from that of Zytiga’s early halt of trial for efficacy and it later on roared into the prostate cancer drug market share, after being approved by the FDA in 2011.
European Commission’s Approval
Apart from an upgrade from Piper, the San-Francisco based bio-pharma company also received European Commissions nod for its drug COMETRIQ(R), which is aimed at the treatment of patients with progressive and advanced thyroid cancer. The EC has permitted marketing authorization to Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) post a positive recommendation from the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).
