As previously reported, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Elemer Piros downgraded Abeona Therapeutics to Neutral from Overweight and slashed his price target on the shares to $2 from $29 following the company's Q2 earnings report. He remains wary of competition for the company's mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA/B and dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa programs and believes Abeona will need to raise money in the next 12 months, Piros tells investors.

After Abeona Therapeutics received a Complete Response Letter, or CRL, from the FDA for pz-cel in recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or RDEB, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Kristen Kluska called the news "a punch to the gut," but added that it is "not the end of the road," telling investors that it was known that manufacturing was the biggest risk heading into this FDA decision. The firm, which says its initial worst-case scenario was that there would be a PDUFA delay versus an outright CRL, still sees a path towards approval for pz-cel and contends that the 50% stock move after markets suggesting a valuation of about $100M was "overdone." The firm has an Overweight rating and $36 price target on Abeona shares.