Eiger BioPharmaceuticals price target lowered to $4 from $23 at Citi

Citi analyst Yigal Nochomovitz lowered the firm’s price target on Eiger BioPharmaceuticals to $4 from $23 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The market has written off Eiger’s hepatitis delta virus program despite D-LIVR working given much lower headline efficacy for lonafarnib+ritonavir+peginterferonalfa relative to Gilead’s bulevirtide and only a 10% response rate for the all-oral lonafarnib+ritonavir regimen, Nochomovitz tells investors in a research note. The analyst still thinks lonafarnib is likely approvable and ultimately can carve out a "niche in the HDV landscape given more convenient dosing than bulevirtide."