BIIB - Cassava shares soar 12% following giant price target increase at Maxim

Cassava Sciences (SAVA) shares are soaring in morning trading after Maxim analyst Jason McCarthy raised his price target to $80 from $14.That represents more than a 471% increase.McCarthy cited data released earlier this month from a phase 2b study of the oral drug simufilam in Alzheimer's that showed a 10% improvement in ADAS-Cog11 and 29% improvement in NPI score, both diagnostic tools used to measure the cognitive symptoms of dementia."This data actually tracks with acetylcholinerase inhibitors, which are the only drugs that actually show improvement in the first 6 months," McCarthy writes."The activity around [Biogen (BIIB) and Eisai (ESALF)'s] aducanumab, which is not over yet as the PDUFA looms in June, has ushered in the next wave of therapeutics in AD that are targeting upstream of amyloid, more specifically the neuroinflammation aspects of AD," he noted.He calls simufilam "about as advanced as any asset in this new wave of AD

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Cassava shares soar 12% following giant price target increase at Maxim