Rocket Pharmaceuticals downgraded at Evercore following patient death in study

Evercore ISI downgraded Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT) to In Line from Outperform with a price target of $5, down from $18, following this week’s “sad news” that a patient passed away in the company’s Danon disease trial. The analyst, who is also removing Rocket from the firm’s “SMID Core List,” thinks there are still “serious dilution concerns” and thinks the path to address this is to sell off the LVV platform. There is a lot of uncertainty around next steps, including timelines, and the firm doesn’t think “Danon alone is an attractive investment case from here, even if approvable,” the analyst added.