BTIG hikes Acumen's PT on optimism for Alzheimer's drug, shares up

Acumen Pharmaceuticals

05/10/2022 17:24

** Shares of Alzheimer's drug developer Acumen
Pharmaceuticals Inc  ABOS.O  jump as much as 8% to $10.33 - set
for its second straight session of gains 
    ** BTIG raises price target on ABOS to $22 from $15, citing
that it believes the recent positive data from Biogen's  BIIB.O 
lecanemab support the therapeutic rationale of ABOS's ACU193
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N31033H
    ** Brokerage says ABOS's ACU193, which is a pure oligomer
binding drug, is a unique candidate among all therapeutics
currently in clinical testing
    ** ACU193 targets amyloid β oligomer, which is a mixture of
soluble proteins that are likely smaller than the protein
clusters which form the mature plaque in Alzheimer's patients -
BTIG
    ** Additionally, ACU193 also stays away from the mature
plaque, which BTIG believes gives it the potential to be much
safer 
    ** BTIG expects these differentiating properties of ACU193
to be apparent in the clinical readout expected in H1 2023 
    ** All six brokerages covering the stock rate it "buy" or
higher; their median PT is $16.50 - representing a nearly 2x
potential upside to last close 
    ** As of last close, ABOS down ~52% since Nasdaq debut in
July last year  
 (Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru)
 ((Bhanvi.Satija@thomsonreuters.com; Outside U.S. +91
9873062788;))