Corbus price target lowered to $51 from $85 at Wedbush after Novo data

Wedbush lowered the firm’s price target on Corbus Pharmaceuticals (CRBP) to $51 from $85 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares after Novo Nordisk (NVO) reported Phase 2a 16-week data for CB1 inverse agonist monlunabant in 243 people with obesity and metabolic syndrome. The firm, which notes that Corbus is also developing a CB1 inverse agonist, CRB-913, points out that the most common monlunabant adverse events were gastrointestinal. However, mild to moderate neuropsychiatric side effects, including anxiety, irritability, and sleep disturbances, were more common in the treatment arm. Neuropsychiatric events led to the marketing withdrawal of rimonabant, and although the firm still thinks there is “a path forward for CRB-913,” it is updating its model to significantly increase the discount rate for the CRB-913 program and acknowledges that “greater skepticism is warranted.”