Verastem price target lowered to $20 from $34 at Alliance Global Partners

Alliance Global Partners lowered the firm’s price target on Verastem to $20 from $34 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company announced last Friday that it has initiated the rolling NDA submission for avutometinib and defactinib, its lead combination therapy, for low-grade serous ovarian cancer, or LGSOC. The rolling NDA submission for the combination has been initiated for KRAS mutant LGSOC, which represents approximately 30% of the addressable LGSOC market, and “this didn’t help VSTM‘s stock last week” as the market had expected a rolling NDA for broad LGSOC, the analyst tells investors. The firm views starting a rolling NDA as a positive for Verastem as they evaluate the potential for moving avutometinib and defactinib forward in the larger KRAS wild type LGSOC, but is adjusting its price target to account for the smaller current KRAS mutant opportunity.