Amgen News Has Major Readthrough For Radius Health

Canaccord Genuity analyst John Newman maintains his Buy rating and price target of $85 on Radius Health Inc RDUS.

Newman stated, “We continue to believe that RDUS' Tymlos will become an important therapy in the osteoporosis market, increasing shareholder value. We also believe that a transdermal formulation will eventually reach the market, increasing share and treatment duration, as well as creating an extremely high barrier to entry for potential generic competition.”

What Amgen Means For Radius

Amgen, Inc. AMGN and UCB recently reported a cardiovascular imbalance for their antibody, romosozumab, in their Phase 3 ARCH study in osteoporosis. Specifically, Newman stated Amgen cited “a higher rate of positively adjudicated cardiovascular Serious Adverse Events (SAEs).” This imbalance makes FDA approval much more unlikely for romosozumab which will reduce competition for Radius’ drug according to Newman.

Newman also pointed out that Tymlos is much more efficient compared to romosozumab. Amgen’s nonvertebral fracture reduction rate of 19 percent was much lower than Tymlos’ rate of 43 percent. Additionally, the reported vertebral fracture reduction for romosozumab was 50 percent versus Tymlos’ 86-percent rate. Further, the treatment time is six months shorter for Tymlos.

Finally, Neman believes RAD-1901, a drug being developed as a potential treatment for breast cancer, is showing a lot of promise in production. Newman considers the drug to be a meaningful asset and stated, “RAD-1901 will show meaningful efficacy in breast cancer and that details for a pivotal program may lie ahead.”

Radius Health Inc. was trading up almost 13 percent in the pre-market Monday at $39.42.