Novartis upgraded to Hold at Deutsche Bank after Kisqali’s ‘positive surprise’

Deutsche Bank upgraded Novartis to Hold from Sell with a price target of CHF 80, up from CHF 70. After Novartis announced that the NATALEE trial of Kisqali has met its primary endpoint at the second interim analysis and the trial was stopped early at interim analysis, the firm said it has considered an eventual positive headline as "quite probable." However, Deutsche Bank did not expect it until the final analysis in the second half of this year and "more importantly" to see a consistent benefit across high/intermediate risk patients. This "positive surprise" crystalizes a potentially mid-single digit billion dollar opportunity and "at a stroke potentially neutralizes much of the Entresto cliff problem," the analyst tells investors.