Piper Jaffray Maintains OW Rating and $4 PT on Durect

On Friday, Durect DRRX announced that partner Pfizer PFE received a Complete Response letter from the FDA regarding tamper-resistant formulation of extended-release oxycodone Remoxy, Piper Jaffray reports. “Though Pfizer did not discuss the details of the letter, recall that Pfizer on its 1Q11 call noted that it was working through unspecified manufacturing issues with the FDA, as well as potential implications from the FDA's recent class-wide Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for extended release opioids,” Piper Jaffray writes. “Though visibility to an approval and launch is murky at best, we would not by any means interpret the Complete Response as the death knell of the product. As such, we believe that Friday's sell off of DRRX shares was excessive, and would view the weakness as a buying opportunity. We reiterate our Overweight rating and $4 PT.” Durect closed Friday at $2.13.