Shares of micro-cap clinical-stage biotech Annovis Bio ( NYSE: ANVS ) gained as much as 17.2% to $12.35 in Thursday mid-day trading, after H.C. Wainwright research initiated the stock with a buy rating and gave it a $40 price target, implying a nearly 280% upside to its shares.
Berwyn, Pa.-based ANVS is developing a pipeline of drugs addressing several neurodegenerative diseases. Its lead compound is buntanetap, which it is evaluating across a broad spectrum of disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
H. C. Wainwright analysts Raghuram Selvaraju and Boobalan Pachaiyappan called buntanetap "a pipeline in and of itself" in a research note on Thursday, saying that they believe the drug could be launched as a disease-modifying Parkinson's disease therapeutic in 2026 in the U.S. and in 2027 in Europe.
"Investors should be aware that the market opportunities in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases alone are vast, with roughly 6M AD patients and about 1M PD patients in the U.S. alone," the analysts said.
They estimate buntanetap could reach $1B in sales by 2029 and approach $1.8B in peak annual sales by 2031.
Buntanetap is able to inhibit the translation of multiple neurotoxic proteins through its mechanism of action, which is why it has the potential to treat numerous neurodegenerative conditions, ANVS CEO Maria Maccecchini said in a letter to shareholders on Thursday.
ANVS was among stocks that was swept up in the meme stock craze that swept Wall Street last year. Shares of ANVS gained a whopping 1,133.7% from January 2021 to mid-July 2021.
H.C. Wainwright's buy rating on ANVS stock compares to a Wall Street average rating of strong buy. Conversely, Seeking Alpha's Quant system, which consistently beats the market , rates it strong sell .
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Annovis stock rises as H.C. Wainwright starts with buy rating, touts lead drug buntanetap