By Michael Elkins
Morgan Stanley reiterated an Equal Weight rating and $99.00 price target on Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) ahead of the company’s appearance at the ACC conference on Mar 6. MRK will present data from two pipeline CV drugs at the conference - Sotatercept Ph3 PAH and oral PCSK9 Ph2 for high cholesterol representing the next pipeline catalysts for the stock.
In Oct 2022, MRK announced that the first Sotatercept Ph3 trial (STELLAR) met the primary endpoint demonstrating a statistically and clinically meaningful improvement in 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) from the baseline at 24 weeks. In addition, eight of the nine secondary efficacy outcome measures achieved statistical significance and the overall safety profile of Sotatercept was, in general, consistent with what has been observed in Ph2, per the release.
Analysts believe that some of the positive Sotatercept news is already priced into MRK’s shares and expect more of the focus to be on the efficacy, which will inform the competitive profile of the drug and the outlook for two additional ongoing Ph3 PAH trials - ZENITH and HYPERION.
Shares of MRK are down 0.64% in mid-day trading on Tuesday.