Sage Therapeutics price target lowered to $17 from $25 at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer analyst Jay Olson lowered the firm’s price target on Sage Therapeutics to $17 from $25 and keeps a Perform rating on the shares. The firm notes Phase 2 PRECEDENT topline results showed no difference in efficacy for SAGE-718 vs. placebo in PD-MCI patients, and it suspects investors are now discounting nearly the entire value of SAGE-718 by assuming direct read-across to ongoing studies in HD and AD MCI that read-out later this year. However, while Oppenheimer agrees with the negative read-across, it thinks it’s limited by several distinct factors for the HD and AD studies, including differences in disease states driving MCI, inclusion criteria, sample size, endpoints, and duration of treatment.