Biogen Up 40% Premarket on Revived Alzheimer's Drug

By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Biogen Inc. (BIIB) surged more than 40% in premarket trading Tuesday after the company said it would pursue regulatory approval for aducanumab, an investigational treatment for early Alzheimer's disease that had previously been deemed a failure.

Biogen and partner Eisai & Co. (4523.TO) ended two late-stage studies of aducanumab earlier this year after determining the drug likely wouldn't help patients, but the biotech on Tuesday said a new analysis of a larger dataset from the studies showed aducanumab reduced clinical decline in patients with early Alzheimer's disease.

Analysts at Citigroup said that while remains to be seen if aducanumab could be approved and become commercially successful, a model of $3 billion to $4 billion of peak sales in the indication yields a Biogen fair value of $345 to $375 a share.

Biogen shares, which closed Monday at $223.51, were up 42%, to $317.74, in premarket trading.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2019 08:02 ET (12:02 GMT)

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024