Deutsche Bank Comments on Recent Weakness in Pharmacyclics (PCYC)

Deutsche Bank reiterated a Buy rating on Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC) with a price target of $180. Analyst Robyn Karnauskas commented on recent weakness, saying she was skeptical about concerns raised by a competitor.

"We are hearing PCYC weakness has been due to a competitor report highlighting safety issues from the medical data obtained under the freedom of information act. These issues specifically are 1) PML, 2) TLS and 3) Bleeding. These issues, some believe, may be higher than we have seen in the label," said Karnauskas.

"While we have not seen the report, we are highly skeptical of the points being raised and we do not think that Imbruvica is the only reason behind high rates of TLS and PML as the report points out. We did not see such cases with Imbruvica mono-therapy. We have spoken to the company and they are not seeing these high rates in their databases. Bleeding is a known issue with Imbruvica but doctors do not see this as a major concern. We would be buyers on the weakness and into the ASH’14 as we think competitor (ABT-199) data may not look as good as everyone believes. In addition, continuous patient addition on the drug would likely lead to beat on consensus ests in ’14," she added.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Pharmacyclics click here. For more ratings news on Pharmacyclics click here.

Shares of Pharmacyclics closed at $88.50 yesterday.

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