MorphoSys rises after JPM places on positive watch ahead of partner Alzheimer's study data

Morphosys AG

17/10/2022 11:29

** Shares of MorphoSys  MORG.DE  jump 12% after J.P.Morgan
places the German biotech group on "positive catalyst watch"
ahead of data on its partner Roche's  ROG.S  Alzheimer's drug
study
    ** Roche's gantenerumab Phase III data is imminent, JPM
says, adding it has "increased confidence in at least some
success"
        ** MorphoSys is Roche's licensing partner and is
entitled to receive tiered royalties, ranging from 5.5% to 7%,
on net product sales and potential success-based regulatory
milestone payments related to gantenerumab
    ** "We see a high chance that the combined data-set shows
sufficiently strong efficacy for a US regulatory filing," JPM
says
    ** The brokerage sees more than 20% net present value (NPV)
upside to MorphoSys even if gantenerumab is only a 3 billion
euros peak sales product
    ** "This would still be worth c.14 euros per share," it adds
    ** Still, JPM keeps its "neutral" rating on MorphoSys on
downside risk for lymphoma drug Monjuvi in 2022 and beyond, and
a challenging path to group profitability
    ** MorphoSys tops German small-caps index  .SDAXI , Roche is
up 0.3%
 (Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova, Andrey Sychev)
 ((Anastasiia.Kozlova@thomsonreuters.com))