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NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Medicines Co. rose Tuesday after a UBS analyst upgraded his rating and price target on the drug company, citing the potential of its new product pipeline. UBS analyst Maged Shenouda upgraded Medicine's rating to "Buy" from "Sell", and raised the price target to $23.50 from $17. Last month the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted its new drug application for Cleviprex, a treatment for acute hypertension, or high blood pressure. In a note to clients, Shenouda said he has been encouraged by Cleviprex data and expects the investigational product to gain FDA approval in the United States in 2008. The company also has a late-stage, or Phase III, program under way for anti-platelet drug Cangrelor. Shenouda said he anticipates the completion of the Phase III program in the second half of 2008, and expressed optimism for the drug's commercial potential. On the downside, the analyst said he still believes anticoagulant Angiomax "is unlikely to receive a patent term extension beyond 2010, despite the ongoing legislative or possible legal efforts by the company." Shares of Parsippany, N.J.-based Medicines rose 50 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $18.90 in afternoon trading and earlier traded as high as $19.59. In the past year, the stock has traded between $14.26 and $36.18.
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