By Sam Boughedda
Stifel analysts initiated a Buy rating and $45 per share price target on Mineralys Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MLYS) in a note to clients on Tuesday.
The analysts said that the hypertension market has been in "decades-long stasis, with the level of uncontrolled and resistant hypertension (uHTN/rHTN) only rising."
"This losing battle is well-correlated with the rise of obesity worldwide and the consequent increasing levels of hyperaldosteronism—a well-known contributing factor to uHTN/rHTN," they wrote.
However, analysts believe MLYS is addressing this directly with its "potentially 'best-in-class,' highly-selective aldosterone synthase inhibitor (ASI)— lorundrostat—in a new class of drugs targeted to patients with elevated aldosterone who could be better served than by another broadly-targeted incremental alternative."
They explained that a broader return to macro-indications, and the hyperaldosteronism "problem specifically," have garnered interest from large pharmaceutical firms, "as validated by AstraZeneca's recent acquisition of CinCor for $1.8bn (including CVR)."
"We think MLYS has the potential for the same level of value accretion in a seemingly unlimited upside market," the analysts concluded.