Maintaining Buy on Genmab: Epkinly Combination Potential Outweighs Monotherapy Setback

Analyst Charlie Haywood from Bank of America Securities reiterated a Buy rating on Genmab A/S and increased the price target to DKK2,500.00 from DKK2,250.00.

Charlie Haywood has given his Buy rating due to a combination of factors centered on the strength of Genmab’s broader Epkinly opportunity despite a recent trial setback. While the Epkinly Phase III monotherapy study in second-line DLBCL failed to show an overall survival benefit, Haywood views this as a relatively minor financial issue, representing only a small fraction of his valuation. He emphasizes that the most significant value drivers are the first- and second-line combination trials, which target the vast majority of the DLBCL population and have progression-free survival as their main endpoint, an outcome measure already supported by encouraging prior data. He also notes that the missed monotherapy trial does not materially alter the investment case because Genmab’s strategy has always been more focused on combinations, where early-stage results have been notably stronger.

Haywood further argues that downside risk is cushioned by the limited contribution of the third-line DLBCL monotherapy indication to Genmab’s overall risk-adjusted net present value. He believes Epkinly’s existing third-line accelerated approval in the U.S. can potentially be maintained while the company generates confirmatory data from the upcoming combination trials, similar to the regulatory precedent seen with a competing therapy. In his view, any regulatory uncertainty is mitigated by the breadth and quality of Phase II/III data across the Epkinly program and by Genmab’s explanations for confounding factors in the failed Phase III study. Taken together, the sizable commercial potential of the combination indications, the importance of progression-free survival as a regulatory and clinical benchmark, and the limited financial impact of the monotherapy miss support maintaining a Buy rating and a price objective above the current share price.

According to TipRanks, Haywood is ranked #7571 out of 11984 analysts.

In another report released today, UBS also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a DKK2,750.00 price target.