Ascendis Pharma (ASND) share selloff on Tuesday after the termination of its collaboration agreement with Novo Nordisk (NVO) was likely an over-reaction, with additional pressure from weakness in the biotech sector, Wedbush said in a note Wednesday, adding it believes the company has the capacity to execute alone.
Ascendis said Monday it will regain exclusive rights to some drug treatments for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, including obesity, after terminating a 2024 collaboration deal with Novo. In particular, all rights to once-monthly TransCon Semaglutide obesity treatments will revert to Ascendis upon termination, the company said.
Wedbush said that Ascendis now has "proven expertise" in the development of three products through US Food and Drug Administration approvals for metabolic disorders, and it should "have sufficient capacity to move the TransCon Semaglutide and additional programs for metabolic/cardiovascular diseases forward efficiently."
The investment firm also said that, after a discussion with Ascendis' management about the decision to terminate the Novo collaboration, it still sees the "TransCon technology platform as supporting ASND's strong long-term growth potential."
Wedbush has an outperform rating on Ascendis and a $327 price target.
Price: $239.90, Change: $+0.13, Percent Change: +0.05%