Amgen's Adcomm Meeting Paves Way To Launch Boost For Mirati Therapeutics' Lung Cancer Drug: Analysts

According to a report on Thursday, French pharma company Sanofi SA SNY is reportedly exploring a potential acquisition of cancer drugmaker Mirati Therapeutics Inc MRTX.

The deal would potentially bolster Sanofi's drug pipeline, helping the company to reduce its reliance on the blockbuster asthma medicine Dupixent. 

Sanofi's backing would also help Mirati commercialize Krazati and fund treatment and further studies, Bloomberg noted. 

In December, Mirati received FDA accelerated approval for Krazati, a second-line treatment for lung cancer with mutated KRAS genes, though European regulators issued a negative opinion on the conditional approval for the medicine.

Thursday, FDA advisers concluded that the data from a late-stage trial lacked the requisite reliability to endorse the traditional approval of Amgen Inc's AMGN Lumakras for patients afflicted with an advanced form of lung cancer.

Oppenheimer says Amgen's AdComm meeting is an opportunity for a positive boost to the Krazati launch and its short-term adoption rate. 

Simultaneously, it sets a relatively modest benchmark for the upcoming KRYSTAL-12 confirmatory study results anticipated in 1H 2024. The analyst keeps an Outperform rating and a price target of $62.

BMO Capital Markets boosted the price target for MRTX from $31 to $72, reflecting potential M&A news and a potential takeout premium.

Excluding the scenario of Mirati being acquired, BMO analysts find their confidence in the potential for share value growth strengthened due to the increasing likelihood that Amgen's Lumakras may either be deemed comparable to docetaxel or slightly less effective or it could potentially face a complete denial of approval.

JMP Securities increased Mirati's target price from $58 to $82, with a Market Outperform rating.

The analysts view KRYSTAL-12 as isolated from the issues of CodeBreaK200 and consequently increase sales forecast in second-line non-small cell lung cancer and add the PRMT5 opportunity.

Price Action: MRTX shares are down 0.55% at $62.04 on the last check Friday.