Merus initiated with an Overweight at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Merus (MRUS) with an Overweight rating and $84 price target The firm views the company’s EGFRxLGR5 bispecific, petosemtamab, as “significantly de-risked” as both a monotherapy in second-line head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and in combination with pembrolizumab in first-line head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells that express the PD-L1 protein. Piper expects additional Phase II data on the combo in 2025 to “significantly de-risk” the Phase III LiGeR-HN1 study. It believes petosemtamab is positioned to generate $3B-plus in risk-adjusted revenues by 2035 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma alone.