Goldman Sachs Gets Firm On Solid Biosciences

Just weeks into its life as a publicly traded company, Solid Biosciences Inc SLDB caught the eyes of four analysts who assumed coverage Tuesday with a mix of Holds and Buys.

Here is what one of the more bearish critics had to say.

The Rating

Goldman Sachs analyst Salveen Richter initiated coverage on Solid Biosciences with a Neutral rating and a $31 price target.

The Thesis

The biotech company’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy portfolio is led by SGT-001, a gene therapy competing with Sarepta Therapeutics Inc SRPT and Pfizer Inc. PFE-Bamboo treatments.

Solid Biosciences will release Phase 1/2 interim data for its candidate in the first half of 2019 to be clinically compared with Sarepta’s interim Phase 1/2 results delivering proof of concept in the back half of 2018.

“We acknowledge SGT-001 could be a game-changing therapy for DMD patients and estimate $3.1 billion in global risk-unadjusted peak sales,” Richter wrote in a Tuesday note.

By his assessment, risks include a lack of near-term drivers coupled with ambiguity around resolution of the FDA’s partial clinical hold on high-dose manufacturing; safe, systemic administration at a high dose; and ownership of intellectual property for the AAV9 delivery method.

Price Action

At time of publication, shares of Solid Biosciences were trading down 3 percent at $24.19.

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