Hemab Therapeutics will likely see more upside in the wake of its recent public listing due to its progress toward developing the first treatment for a pair of rare bleeding disorders, according to Goldman Sachs. The investment bank, which was one of the company’s IPO underwriters, initiated coverage of the biotechnology name with a buy rating. It also put a $36 price target on shares, implying 39% upside from Friday’s close. “Our Buy rating is driven by sutacimig’s potential to dominate [a few rare bleeding disorder therapy] markets as the solo treatment option and HMB-002 having … potential in a large [Von Willebrand disease] market,” analyst Richard Law said Tuesday in a note to clients. Hemab went public on May 4, pricing its IPO at $18. The stock doubled that day, hitting a high of $36.61. Since then, it has traded within a $23 to $29 range. On Tuesday, it popped 7% to around $27.75 as Goldman and other Wall Street shops assigned bullish ratings on shares. One-of-a-kind therapy Hemab aims to treat Glanzmann’s thrombasthenia and Factor VII deficiency, two very rare inherited bleeding conditions that inhibit blood clotting, with its trial-stage therapy called sutacimig, according to Law. There are currently no other treatments being developed to treat GT and FVIID, meaning Hemab can aim to entirely capture both markets with sutacimig. And while only about 1,000 patients with either of the two disorders live in the U.S., countries in the Gulf Corporation Council have up to roughly five-times as many constituents suffering from the disorders, per the bank. In an early phase trial of sutacimig, use of the drug led to annualized treated bleeding rate reductions across all dosing regimens studied, without regard to the source and cause of bleeding. Hemab is also working on a therapy called HMB-002 to treat Von Willebrand disease, a more common bleeding disorder — which Goldman thinks could further boost shares.
