Lack of serious scientific catalysts leads UBS to downgrade Immunovant to impartial

Shares of small-cap clinical-stage biotech Immunovant (NASDAQ:IMVT) fell as a lot as 12.7% to $4.26 in Monday morning buying and selling, after UBS analysis downgraded its score on the corporate to impartial from purchase, citing an absence of main scientific analysts till H2 of subsequent 12 months.

IMVT’s lead investigational product is IMVT-1401 (batoclimab), a monoclonal antibody which inhibits a protein referred to as neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) for the remedy of autoimmune ailments mediated by a sort of antibody referred to as immunoglobulin G (IgG).

Except for the shortage of serious scientific catalysts, UBS analysts Colin Bristow, Yihan Li and Elliott Bosco additionally cited rising FcRn competitors and lipid elevation points that haled batoclimab’s growth as causes for downgrading IMVT inventory.

The analysts additionally trimmed their worth goal on IMVT to $5 from $7, which represents a 2.5% upside to the inventory final closing worth of $4.88.

“We acknowledge IMVT is buying and selling ~$1-2 above money however finally this money reserve is dedicated to fund batoclimab growth,” the analysts wrote in a analysis word.

“With this in thoughts, we anticipate IMVT to commerce broadly according to the biotech market till we get nearer to the following scientific replace, with the time-based threat of additional lipid points or a brand new security sign,” they added.

UBS’ impartial score on IMVT contrasts to a Wall Avenue common score and Searching for Alpha Quant score of purchase.

IMVT inventory was final buying and selling 5.7% decrease at $4.60 as of 1111 ET.