New Haven drug developer Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is targeting a burgeoning market for hepatitis C virus treatments with a potentially “best-in-class” portfolio of drugs under development, The Associated Press reports, citing a Piper Jaffray analyst.
Achillion does not have any products on the market. Its most advanced product is in mid-stage clinical testing. Most of its revenue comes from grants or collaborations.
It also is competing with at least a half dozen other small and larger drug companies to be the first to market with a potentially blockbuster hepatitis C treatment. Achillion also is developing treatments for the virus that causes AIDS.
Hepatitis C is the primary cause of liver transplants in the U.S. and is expected to become a much larger public health problem as aging baby boomers succumb to the disease. It’s an infectious disease that can be spread by sharing needles or having sex with an infected person.
Analyst Edward A. Tenthoff said this week in research note an estimated 180 million people are infected with the disease worldwide, including 3.2 million in the United States.
Tenthoff started coverage of the drugmaker with an “overweight” rating and a $12 price target for its shares, implying that over the next year he expects the stock to more than double from Wednesday’s close.
In mid-morning trading Friday, Achillion shares were down 21 cents, or 3.4 percent, at $5.99.
He said Achillion is developing a promising portfolio of drugs and it retains full ownership of them, which provides development flexibility. It also ended the second quarter with $100 million in cash, which should fund operations through 2013.
“The company is led by an experienced management team and has a strong cash position to advance its drugs,” the analyst wrote.
