Anadys Visibility a Ways Off

Tags: ands
2 May 10:04pm
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Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ANDS) is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule anti-infective medicines for the treatment of chronic viral and bacterial infections. The company is currently rebuilding its pipeline after discontinuing the development of both ANA380 and ANA975.


Anadys has undertaken a major restructuring program and will focus on the development of only two compounds, ANA598 (in pre-clinical stage) and ANA773 (phase I initiated in February 2008). We do not see the company becoming profitable in the near future.


We believe the company will continue to incur losses for the next several years. Current drug development programs indicate that 2008 could be the first year in which ANDS could present phase I data on either of the candidates currently in development. Until then, the company will need to rely on the cash balance to fund its operations until 2009.


Accelerated development of ANA598 will lead to the initiation of phase II trials in 2009 positive results from the phase II trials will enable the company to enter into a commercialization and development agreement for ANA598 which will also reduce the company's cash burn. As such, we maintain our Hold rating on the shares with a target price of $2.50. We would like to see more visibility on the company's development programs before we recommend the shares.


It is currently very difficult to value the stock, given the low revenue stream and the negative EPS in the 2008-11period. We assign the stock a target price of $2.50 with a market cap of $72 million.


Varun Parwal contributed to this report.


Read the full analyst report on ANDS.




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