Allakos initiated with an Overweight at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Allakos with an Overweight rating and $22 price target. The clinical stage biotechnology company is developing antibodies to treat allergic and inflammatory diseases, including lead asset lirentelimab, or AK002, for chronic spontaneous urticaria, or CSU, and atopic dermatitis, or AD. The firm calls Allakos "a controversial name" and "a show me story" due to failure in two Phase 3 trials, but it disagrees with the investor sentiment and believes in the mechanism of action of lirentelimab, which Piper sees having the potential to show positive outcomes in the MAVERICK and ATLAS trials in CSU and AD, respectively.