H.C. Wainwright analyst Douglas Tsao has maintained their bullish stance on NMRA stock, giving a Buy rating on March 5.
Douglas Tsao has given his Buy rating due to a combination of factors surrounding Neumora Therapeutics, Inc.’s navacaprant. The discontinuation of Johnson & Johnson’s aticaprant, a less selective kappa opioid receptor antagonist (KORA), does not affect his confidence in navacaprant’s potential. Despite the setback in the KOASTAL-1 study, navacaprant’s differentiated pharmacology and impressive Phase 2 results position it favorably in the market.
The high specificity of navacaprant to KOR, approximately 310 times, compared to aticaprant’s 30 times, is a significant advantage. This specificity is expected to provide a broader dosing range and minimize side effects, particularly those associated with non-specific binding to mu-opioid receptors. With aticaprant’s development paused, Neumora is poised to lead the market with a KORA for major depressive disorder (MDD), further solidifying Tsao’s positive outlook.
Tsao covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as Neumora Therapeutics, Inc., Protagonist Therapeutics, and Xenon. According to TipRanks, Tsao has an average return of 9.8% and a 38.82% success rate on recommended stocks.
In another report released on March 5, Mizuho Securities also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $4.00 price target.