Q32 Bio: Oppenheimer slashes price target on mixed trial results

Investing.com– Oppenheimer slashed its price target on Q32 Bio Inc (NASDAQ:) after the firm released mixed results from two ongoing phase 2 trials for its Bempikibart treatment.

Oppenheimer slashed its price target on the stock to $20 from $80, but maintained the stock at Outperform. This comes after Q32 lost over 67% of its value in aftermarket trade on Tuesday, sliding to $8.122, following the trial results. 

Q32 said a phase 2a trial for Bempikibart in treating alopecia areata (AA) showed “encouraging clinical activity,” with the company now planning to expand the trial and enroll additional patients. 

But Bempikibart did not meet a primary endpoint in a phase 2a trial for treating atopic dermatitis (AD), which was the main driver of the stock’s losses on Tuesday. The company also indicated it will not proceed with more trials of Bempikibart and AD. 

“While we’re clearly disappointed by bempi’s failure to advance in AD, we also think the AA opportunity remains underappreciated with a potentially differentiated MoA in a highly underserved disease,” Oppenheimer analysts wrote in a note. 

The brokerage said it was encouraged by Bempikibart’s safety profile with AA, and that the trials showed that the treatment also had potential utility in other diseases.