Maintaining the Bull Case on Vera: Atacicept’s Competitive Edge and $2.2B IgAN Peak Sales Upside

Analyst Dina Ramadane from Bank of America Securities reiterated a Buy rating on Vera Therapeutics and keeping the price target at $66.00.

Dina Ramadane has given his Buy rating due to a combination of factors, primarily the belief that Vera’s lead drug atacicept maintains a compelling competitive position despite new Phase 3 data from Vertex’s povetacicept in IgA nephropathy. Her analysis suggests that the efficacy and safety across the BAFF/APRIL class appear broadly comparable and that the competitor’s results do not meaningfully erode atacicept’s commercial prospects.

Ramadane further argues that, based on physician feedback and cross‑trial comparisons, a follow‑on agent would need a substantially greater proteinuria reduction to clearly stand out, which has not been demonstrated so far. She therefore views market expectations for atacicept as too conservative, models approximately $2.2 billion in peak sales in IgAN alone, and sees additional upside supported by an upcoming PDUFA decision and a price objective of $66 per share versus the current price level.

In another report released on March 2, H.C. Wainwright also reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $110.00 price target.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 25 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of VERA in relation to earlier this year.