Coming up with new drugs is usually a good way to see a biotech stock advance, and for AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN), that’s just what happened. AstraZeneca is up almost 1.5% in Tuesday morning’s trading session, and that’s largely thanks to some new moves on drug development, one of which has already been approved for use. The big new development, which AstraZeneca brought out along with Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), is nirsevimab, marketed under the much less cumbersome name Beyfortis.
Beyfortis is designed to tackle respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which has been a hot-button issue for most of this cold and flu season. More specifically, Beyfortis takes on lower respiratory tract infections in both “neonates” and infants and was recently approved for use in China, giving AstraZeneca access to a huge new market. Given that there isn’t currently a treatment geared toward infants with RSV, the move will likely prove valuable for the patients and for AstraZeneca itself, which now has a first-mover advantage.
And There’s More to Come
That alone would be pretty welcome news, but it actually gets better from there. AstraZeneca is also working to move on cell therapy in haematology. Its acquisition of Gracell Biotechnologies will give it access to a FasTCAR-enabled B-cell maturation antigen, which could, with proper development, eventually give AstraZeneca one of the best cancer treatments ever seen. That would be a remarkable step forward and could give AstraZeneca the kind of moonshot that Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) recently enjoyed.
Is AstraZeneca a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on AZN stock based on four Buys assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a slight 0.49% increase in its share price over the past year, the average AZN price target of $81 per share implies 18.82% upside potential.
