Jefferies Lifts Amgen Price Target to $410 After Dazodalibep Success

Jefferies has raised its price target for Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN, XETRA:AMG) to $410 from $367 after dazodalibep delivered positive Phase 3 results in patients with systemic Sjögren's disease.

The bank noted that the drug achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the primary endpoint, the change from baseline in ESSDAI at week 48. This is significant because previous CD40 and CD40L programs had produced mixed results, including Novartis' discontinuation of iscalimab and Sanofi's removal of Sjögren's disease from frexalimab's target indications.

Jefferies sees potentially better safety and tolerability compared with other datasets in the Sjögren's disease treatment landscape. The bank increased its risk-adjusted peak sales estimate for dazodalibep to about $4.5 billion from $1 billion, including $2 billion for the systemic population and $2.5 billion for the symptomatic population at a 60% probability of success.

Amgen's approach differs because its Phase 3 program includes separate trials targeting systemic and symptomatic Sjögren's disease, with the positive result coming from the smaller systemic population.