Chardan Capital Markets Starts Avalanche Biotechnologies (AAVL) at Neutral

Chardan Capital Markets initiates coverage on Avalanche Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: AAVL) with a Neutral rating and a price target of $40.00.

Analyst Gbola Amusa comments, "We initiate coverage of gene therapy and ophthalmology company Avalanche Biotechnologies, with a Neutral rating. While we accept the transformative potential of AAVL's gene therapies in diseases of the eye, we note Avalanche has achieved a market cap of $1 billion on results for lead candidate, AVA-101, which came from a single open label 8-patient trial for wet AMD in Australia. We further note that some in the market assume a launch for AVA-101 as early as 2020, even though Avalanche has not yet filed an IND for AVA-101 for human testing in the United States and guides to do so in 2H2015. A 32-patient phase IIa Australian trial is guided to report top-line results in mid-2015. Given the difficulty inherent in perfecting gene therapy for ophthalmology, we think AAVL has a reasonable chance of disappointing some in the market in mid-2015. For now, we believe Ophthotech (Buy, $80) and Ohr Pharmaceutical (Buy, $20) are better names to play in the under-appreciated ophthalmology space."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Avalanche Biotechnologies click here. For more ratings news on Avalanche Biotechnologies click here.

Shares of Avalanche Biotechnologies closed at $39.74 yesterday.

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