RBC Capital remains buyer of Ascendis, says patient death unlikely drug related

RBC Capital analyst Luca Issi says the firm has received a number of inbounds on the Ascendis Pharma (ASND) stock weakness and a few have pointed out the death reported on the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database. It looks like the patient passed on August 22nd and that such patient had HER2+ breast cancer and hypoparathyroidism. Initial FDA received date is October 3rd and latest received data was yesterday, the firm notes. This is the first death reported on the FAERS database. RBC thinks this is another reminder that looking at the FAERS database has multiple limitations as it is often difficult to distinguish causation vs correlation. Details are sparse and difficult to be definitive, but the firm believes this is likely an example of the latter given a complex clinical picture, multiple concomitant medications and while the cause of death remains unknown, breast cancer can be fatal. Overall, the firm is not worried about this case and remains a buyer of Outperform-rated Ascendis.