Piper Jaffray analyst Edward Tenthoff raised his price target for Vertex Pharmaceuticals to $247 from $230 and reiterates an Overweight rating on the shares following the company's Q3 results. The analyst believes Trikafta will provide the next leg of growth for Vertex.

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.