Leerink analyst Marc Goodman started Sage Therapeutics with an Underperform and $80 price target as he initiates Neuroscience space with a Positive View. The analyst believes the Neuroscience sector is experiencing a "renaissance" as multiple new agents and mechanisms are coming up the pipeline across major therapeutic areas, the number of clinical studies is growing nicely, and the FDA is friendly to innovation in this space, companies are getting smarter about speed-to-market strategies and selecting niche sub-populations to focus on for initial product approvals, payer pushback on usage is much lower than in other categories, and physicians are enthusiastic about new agents. Regarding Sage Therapeutics, while Goodman sees lead asset Zulresso being approved by year end and enabling Sage to establish a commercial organization in the U.S. and EU, he expects a very slow ramp and believes this will be a niche product.

Oppenheimer analyst Jay Olson lowered the firm's price target on Sage Therapeutics to $17 from $25 and keeps a Perform rating on the shares. The firm notes Phase 2 PRECEDENT topline results showed no difference in efficacy for SAGE-718 vs. placebo in PD-MCI patients, and it suspects investors are now discounting nearly the entire value of SAGE-718 by assuming direct read-across to ongoing studies in HD and AD MCI that read-out later this year. However, while Oppenheimer agrees with the negative read-across, it thinks it's limited by several distinct factors for the HD and AD studies, including differences in disease states driving MCI, inclusion criteria, sample size, endpoints, and duration of treatment.

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Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists. 1... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

H.C. Wainwright analyst Douglas Tsao reiterates a Neutral rating on Sage Therapeutics after the company discontinued SAGE-718 in Parkinson's after the PRECEDENT study showed no benefit. The results are disappointing and, more importantly, raise concern about the upcoming top-line data readouts for SAGE-718 in Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm recognizes the differences between the indications, but it also sees similarities. As such, SAGE-718's lack of treatment effect in Parkinson's patients "gives us additional pause heading into the next set of readouts," contends H.C. Wainwright.

BofA downgraded Sage Therapeutics to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $14, down from $24.

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