Street missing 'eye-catching' CymaBay data, says Piper Sandler

This morning's topline data from CymaBay's halted Phase 3 ENHANCE study answered key questions for seladelpar around its effect on itch, a hallmark symptom of primary biliary cholangitis, Piper Sandler analyst Yasmeen Rahimi tells investors in a research note. From this 167-patient, placebo-controlled dataset analyzed at three months, CymaBay showed "eye-catching" pruritus improvements for 10mg daily seladelpar in patients with moderate-to-severe itch, says Rahimi. The analyst adds that with CymaBay still trading near cash, the Street is "missing the importance of today's news." With itch causing fatigue and other quality-of-life issues in patients, improved pruritus can command a "significantly higher pricing dynamic" than current options that only address disease biomarkers, contends Rahimi. The analyst sees today's readout as "significantly moving the needle" on seladelpar's commercial potential in PBC. Rahimi keeps an Overweight rating on CymaBay with a $12 price target. The stock in midday trading is up 46%, or $1.65, to $5.20.