Jefferies Has Buy On ViroPharma Inc. (VPHM)

Jefferies & Co. has a Buy rating and a $24 price target on shares of ViroPharma Inc. VPHM. In a note to investors, Jefferies writes, "General Allergists Wary Of Steroids – Opportunity For Cinryze Marketing. Opinions among physicians for prophylactic therapies for HAE were split, and perhaps not surprisingly, the physicians with the largest HAE practices believe that low-dose steroids have little toxicity and see steroids as the preferred initial prophylactic therapy for HAE. These experts, each with 30-50 HAE patients under care, have used Cinryze in non-steroid treated patients with frequent attacks, but as early adopters, do not see significant future expansion of use. However, these experts also acknowledge that the majority of HAE is treated by non-HAE experts, typically general allergists or non-allergists with 1-2 HAE patients under care. What was surprisingly positive for VPHM was the resistance to steroid therapy among the general allergists to whom we spoke due to a high degree of caution on potential side effects. Thus, overall feedback confirms VPHM's strategy to target Cinryze as a steroid replacement." Shares of VPHM gained 2 cents on Friday to close at $19.29.