Amgen (AMGN): Launch of ABP-501 Could Be Delayed Until 2023 - BMO

BMO Capital analyst, Ian Somaiya, reiterated his Outperform rating on Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and price target of $186. After the FDA Advisory Committee voted 26-0 in favor of approval for ABP-501, Amgen’s biosimilar Humira. However, the market reaction may not be as aggressive as the headline would imply for two reasons:

1) The analyst believes the positive vote was largely expected given the FDA’s assessment in the briefing documents that ABP-501 had no clinically meaningful differences with Humira in safety, efficacy and purity.

2) While the model assumes a 2020 launch, the analyst believes a launch could be pushed out to 2023 if Amgen is unable to overcome Humira’s formulation IP, a delay relative to Street expectations.

The analyst believes Amgen is well positioned to appeal to payors by offering a portfolio of biosimilar products including ABP-501, multiple biosimilar oncology drugs as well as ABP-959/biosimilar Soliris.

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

Shares of Amgen closed at $160.18 yesterday.

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