Evercore ISI downgrades Ultragenyx after Angelman study fails

Evercore ISI downgraded Ultragenyx Pharma from Outperform to In Line and cut its price target from $34 to $16 on Thursday, following the failure of the company's GTX-102 study for Angelman syndrome. The new price target implies a market capitalization of $1.7 billion, well below the company's current $2.61 billion valuation. Evercore cited heavy cost pressures and the expected loss of exclusivity for Crysvita in about ten years as factors, while noting the study result was a clear failure. Ultragenyx recently received accelerated FDA approval for its gene therapy GENGLYCOS for glycogen storage disease type Ia, prompting other firms like Canaccord and H.C. Wainwright to maintain Buy ratings with higher price targets. The company is rapidly burning cash, with a leveraged free cash flow of -$489 million over the past twelve months.