Aerovate Therapeutics downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

Jefferies downgraded Aerovate Therapeutics to Hold from Buy with a price target of $2, down from $65, after the company announced that the Phase 2b portion of the Phase 2b/Phase 3 trial of AV-101 in adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH, did not meet its primary endpoint for improvement in PVR compared to placebo for any of the studied doses or show meaningful improvements in the secondary endpoint of change in six minute walk distance. While “obviously disappointing,” consensus was 50/50 on trial success and expectations were for a binary move when the data was reported, says the analyst, who is removing value for AV-101 from the firm’s model and valuing the stock on estimated cash as year-end 2025.