Passage Bio initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Passage Bio (PASG) with an Outperform rating and $30 price target. The firm views the year-to-date pullback in shares as “an overreaction” to competitor program failures across the progranulin class and the regulatory overhang from uniQure’s (QURE) setback with the FDA, but argues that this presents a “key buying opportunity” ahead of updated Phase 1/2 upliFT-D data due in the first half of this year for lead asset PBFT02 in frontotemporal dementia. The firm projects $1B in peak, risk-adjusted sales in 2040 for PBFT02 in FTD, the analyst noted.