Oppenheimer starts Sagimet with Outperform on ‘underappreciated opportunity’

Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Sagimet Biosciences (SGMT) with an Outperform rating and $30 price target. The firm sees an “underappreciated opportunity” for the company’s lead asset denifanstat, a first-in-class fatty acid synthase inhibitor, in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, which it notes is expected to reach $15B in market potential. Opco anticipates a near-term catalyst upon Sagimet raising $200M of additional capital for the ongoing Phase 3 registrational trials by leveraging denifanstat’s competitive profile based on the Phase 2b data. It sees Sagimet ultimately benefiting from Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ (MDGL) build-out of the MASH market as diagnosis rates and reimbursement improve.