MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (MLTX) Stock: Why It Increased 4.63% Today – Pulse 2.0

The stock price of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ: MLTX) increased by 4.63% today. Investors are responding positively to a bullish research report.

H.C. Wainwright analyst Raghuram Selvaraju had initiated coverage on Moonlake Immunotherapeutics with a Buy rating. And Selvaraju assigned the company a price target of $28.

In our view, MoonLake possesses a possibly best-in-class agent in the IL-17-blocking category with sonelokimab (SLK), a novel nanobody targeting both IL-17A and IL-17F. SLK was originally developed by Ablynx N.V., a pioneer in the field of nanobodiesvery small antibody molecules using the features of the llama (camelid) antibody-generating systemthat was acquired by Sanofi S.A. in 2018 for 3.9 billion, wrote Selvaraju in a research note. MoonLake obtained the rights to SLK through a licensing agreement with Merck KGaA, which had in-licensed the molecule from Ablynx in 2013. From our vantage point, MoonLake benefits from the pedigree of SLK, which Merck regarded highly but that did not fit into its focus on oncology, neurology, fertility and endocrinology. In a Phase 2 trial published in The Lancet, up to 57% of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis who took SLK achieved clear skin (PASI 100) at week 24 and sustained responses over 52 weeks. There was also a numerical benefit over a Cosentyx (secukinumab) control arm and a favorable safety profile.

Plus Selvaraju believes that originally could be favorably positioned in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) compared to existing antibody drugs, which do not address blockade of all pathological forms of IL-17 and that have various off-target side effects. And Selvaraju noted that MoonLake is pursuing the development of sonelokimab in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a debilitating inflammatory skin disease for which there are currently no approved therapies.

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MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (MLTX) Stock: Why It Increased 4.63% Today - Pulse 2.0