BioVie price target lowered to $5 from $12 at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer lowered the firm’s price target on BioVie to $5 from $12 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares after the company provided an update of the Phase 3 NM101 trial with unexpected findings on significant protocol violations in 15 sites covering over 80% of enrolled patients. This misconduct left only 81 mITT patients after excluding patients from those 15 sites, rendering the results inconclusive despite some signals of efficacy, the firm notes. While the update was “surprising and unanticipated,” Oppenheimer thinks the priority for the company is timely communication with the FDA for next steps after completing the analysis.