Piper Jaffray analyst Edward Tenthoff lowered his price target for Vertex Pharmaceuticals to $143 to reflect reduced cystic fibrosis sales assumptions following the company's Q4 results. The analyst says there is "no surprises" in Vertex's quarter and keeps an Overweight rating on the name.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals and TreeFrog Therapeutics announced that Vertex has obtained an exclusive license to TreeFrog's proprietary cell manufacturing technology, C-Stem, to optimize production of Vertex's cell therapies for type 1 diabetes, or T1D. TreeFrog and Vertex will collaborate to scale-up TreeFrog's process to produce and amplify cells for Vertex's T1D therapies. TreeFrog's proprietary technology platform, C-Stem, is designed to mimic the natural microenvironment, allowing cells to grow exponentially in 3D. The technology will enhance Vertex's ability to generate large amounts of fully differentiated cells for its portfolio of T1D cell therapies.