H.C. Wainwright analyst Joseph Pantginis raised his price target for Pieris Pharmaceuticals to $9 from $7 after the company disclosed late Friday that that ASKA was not going to exercise its option to license PRS-080 for Japan and other Asian territories. The announcement comes as no surprise, says the analyst, who points out that PRS-080 represented the first clinical proof-of-concept, providing evidence for the functionality of anticalins as a new class of protein therapeutics in the 2015-2016 timeframe. He expects a "strong boost" in visibility across Pieris' programs in 2020 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares.