Madrigal target raised to $225 at H.C. Wainwright after ‘unprecedented results’

H.C. Wainwright analyst Ed Arce raised the firm’s price target on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals to $225 from $170 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company reported "unprecedented" and "strikingly positive" results from its MAESTRO-NASH study of resmetirom in patients with fibrotic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH. While he believes most investors expected positive results on NASH resolution, Arce contends that "most were skeptical on whether resmetirom could improve fibrosis," and even if it could, he believes the prevailing view was it would "only do so marginally." He believes resmetirom is "poised to be the first foundational therapy approved for NASH, as a safe, once-daily oral therapy," the analyst added.