Prime Medicine price target lowered to $12 from $16 at Chardan

Chardan analyst Geulah Livshits lowered the firm’s price target on Prime Medicine (PRME) to $12 from $16 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after Prime reported its CGD prime editing asset PM359 had shown impressive activity in the first treated patient, but that the company would be deprioritizing its CGD franchise to focus on execution in its in vivo liver-directed prime editing programs in Wilson’s disease and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. The firm, which notes that the move echoes Editas Medicine’s (EDIT) shift to in vivo announced last year, viewed PM359 as “an important step for clinical proof of concept for prime editing” with a high probability of technical success, but as “a comparatively modest component of our valuation,” the analyst tells investors. With clinical readouts on prioritized programs not expected until 2027, the firm now looks to business development activity for “opportunities for value inflection,” the analyst added.