Sarepta's Deal With Summit Could Be More About European Eteplirsen Approval Expectations

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc SRPT and Summit Therapeutics PLC SMMT announced a licensing deal Tuesday. Sarepta earns European commercial rights for Summit’s utophin modulation portfolio for an initial $40 million and up to $522 million in milestones and royalties.

According to Baird analyst Brian Skorney, this may be part of a bigger plan for Sarepta in optimistic anticipation of eteplirsen approval in Europe.

“Though we think the deal has interesting potential, near term we think this has more read-through to Sarepta's confidence in an eteplirsen approval in Europe,” said Skorney.

Related Link: DMD Deal With Summit Is 'Low Risk, High Reward' For Sarepta

According to the analyst, Sarepta’s European outlook was uncertain due to litigation with BioMarin over Prosensa’s exon-skipping patients. Now, with BioMarin no longer in the race, Sarepta has plans to file an MAA for eteplirsen.

“The fact that this Summit Therapeutics deal is focused on Europe indicates, in our opinion, that Sarepta is confident about the potential for European eteplirsen approval and plans to have a European operation in place by the time of a potential ezutromid launch there,” said Skorney.

Baird maintained an Outperform rating with a $102 price target for Sarepta.