RBC upgrades PTC Therapeutics on ‘transformative’ Novartis deal

RBC Capital upgraded PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $63, up from $39. The firm views today’s Huntington’s program deal with Novartis (NVS) (BVS) as “transformative” for PTC. The deal validates and offloads risk for PTC’s key pipeline candidate, providing a cash infusion to enhance the upcoming phenylketonuria launch and investment in its core platform, and reduces pressure on near-term regulatory updates, the analyst tells investors in a research note. RBC believes PTC is now a “fundamentally attractive and much more investable smid-cap biotech” with $2B on the balance sheet likely sustaining it to profitability.