McNicoll, Lewis & Vlak Maintains Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Buy, $18 PT

McNicoll, Lewis & Vlak maintained its Keryx Biopharmaceuticals KERX Buy rating and $18 price target in a research report published today. In the report, McNicoll, Lewis & Vlak states, "Based on positive efficacy and safety results of a small, 35-patient, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled Phase II trial of perifosine in combination with Xeloda in patients with metastatic CRC, we did not expect the DSMB to find any reason to terminate X-PECT early. By allowing X-PECT to continue as planned, the DSMB's recommendation offers some validation of perifosine's clean safety profile and represents the last hurdle for this trial before top-line data release, expected in the fourth quarter of this year." Shares of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals closed at $4.07 at the time of posting, up 7.39% from Tuesday's market close.