Altimmune initiated with a Buy at Stifel

Stifel analyst Annabel Samimy initiated coverage of Altimmune (ALT) with a Buy rating and $18 price target The company is developing next-generation peptide-based therapeutics with a novel GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist targeting the nexus of metabolic disease, obesity and dyslipidemia, and the firm contends that the next chapters in metabolic disease treatment will require innovation beyond the diabetes-obesity connection to address the numerous other related comorbidities of obesity, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Altimmune’s lead asset, pemvidutide/ALT-801, falls squarely in that trend, combining the potent weight-loss effects of GLP-1 with glucagon’s direct liver-targeted lipid metabolism, the firm adds.