Goldman Sachs Reiterates Buy Rating on Vertex (VRTX)

Goldman Sachs analyst Salveen Richter reiterated a Buy rating and $598.00 price target on Vertex (NASDAQ: VRTX).

The analyst comments "VRTX hosted an event featuring two anesthesiologists to discuss full Phase 3A Phase 3 clinical trial is the third of multiple (usually 3) phases of research studies used to test a new treatment on humans. It's a pivotal phase that collects key data on efficacy in groups from several hundred to a few thousand people. The FDA in the US typically requires Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials to determine if a treatment can be approved for clinical use. data from non-opioid selective NaV1.8 inhibitor suzetrigine in moderate-to-severe acute pain at the American Society of Anesthesiologists' (ASA) conference following the topline data release and ahead of the January 30 PDUFA. The discussion centered on: 1) a new ad hoc analysis supporting suzetrigine's effectiveness as a monotherapy and as part of multimodal treatment, 2) the time to onset of action for suzetrigine in bunionectomy and abdominoplasty, a key focus for investors, which could be shorter than what was reported in the data and thus more favorable, per the KOL, as VRTX's approach to measure this differed from historical methods given the large study sizes, 3) in bunionectomy, suzetrigine's efficacy versus opioids (per the key secondary endpoint) could have been negatively impacted by the persistence of a local anesthetic, and 4) the KOLs anticipated use for suzetrigine to spare and/or reduce opioid use, ideally as additive to 1L1L, or first-line therapy, is a medical therapy recommended for the initial treatment of a condition or disease. therapy (i.e. NSAIDs/acetaminophen) or in the 2L2L, or second-line therapy, is a medical therapy recommended to treat a disease or condition in cases where the initial treatment (first-line therapy) fails. setting should cost/administrative factors be prohibitive (use as monotherapy in the 1L setting is possible in patients who cannot tolerate analgesics). VRTX has initiated contracting discussions towards securing payor coverage and hospital formulary inclusion in 2025, and the commercial strategy to capture a multi-billion dollar opportunity remains intact. The discussion did not cover the Ph2 LSR chronic pain data by YE24, where we are optimistic, noting the KOL highlighted precedent for analgesics to translate from somatic pain to other pain types."

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Shares of Vertex closed at $483.00 yesterday.

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