DICE - DICE Therapeutics initiated at buy at Wainwright on platform for small molecule drugs

• HC Wainwright has initiated coverage of DICE Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: DICE ) with a buy rating lauding the company's DELSCAPE technology platform aimed at creating new therapies against "difficult to target protein-protein interactions (PPIs), using small, targeted DNA-enabling libraries (DELs)."
• The firm has a $40 price target (~151% upside based on Friday's close).
• Analyst Emily Bodnar said that DELSCAPE can "identify selective binders by producing small, targeted DELs which has led to hundreds to tens of thousands of hits against difficult PPI targets."
• The company's lead candidate DC-806, a pill that targets IL-17, is being eyed for psoriasis. It is currently in phase 1.
• Bodnar conceded that although there are several IL-17-targeted biologics for psoriasis and related indications, there is only one approved that is a pill, Amgen's ( AMGN ) Otezla (apremilast). She noted that though Otezla has a PASI-75 score (efficacy) of only ~30%, the drug has more than $2B in annual sales.
• A full data readout from the phase 1 trial is expected this quarter, and if it is positive, the stock could see significant upside, Bodnar wrote.

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