Intellia Therapeutics price target lowered to $30 from $36 at BofA

BofA lowered the firm’s price target on Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) to $30 from $36 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company paused dosing and screening for both the MAGNITUDE and MAGNITUDE-2 Phase 3 studies after a patient in the MAGNITUDE study experienced grade 4 liver transaminases and increased total bilirubin. The firm, which expects this will reignite questions about the safety of in vivo gene editing therapies broadly and thinks patients may be more hesitant to take a gene editing therapy with known liver concerns despite the potential benefits on convenience and efficacy, lowers its peak penetration estimate to 4% from 5% and its view of the probability of success in ATTR-CM to 32% from 34%. The firm also notes that Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Caribou Biosciences (CRBU) and Editas Medicine (EDIT) are laggards among its coverage following Intellia’s announcement.