H.C. Wainwright upgrades Akero target after ‘ground-breaking’ data

H.C. Wainwright raised the firm’s price target on Akero Therapeutics (AKRO) to $72 from $50 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company announced preliminary top-line 96-week results from the Phase 2b SYMMETRY study in patients with compensated cirrhosis due to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. The stock in midday trading is up 94% to $50.80. A nearly 40% fibrosis improvement response rate in cirrhotic MASH is a “ground-breaking result,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says the results demonstrated efruxifermin to be the first drug to drive a statistically significant reversal of cirrhosis in patients with MASH in a randomized controlled clinical trial. “In a positive surprise, if anything, baseline GLP-1 therapy seems to dampen the response in cirrhotics,” H.C. Wainwright adds.