An experimental treatment for hair loss is being hailed on Wall Street. BTIG began research coverage of Absci Corporation on Thursday with a buy rating and 12-month price target of $9, saying its AI-designed, long-acting antibody, ABS-201, could see peak sales of as much as $2.2 billion. The antibody has the potential to be “the first new mechanism of action in androgenetic alopecia in nearly three decades,” Absci said in its first-quarter earnings release earlier this month, adding that it had also begun a an endometriosis clinical advisory board for the ABS-201 program. “ABS-201 is a genuinely differentiated asset across two large, underserved markets,” BTIG analyst Kambiz Yazdi wrote in a 39-page report, and “could be the GLP-1 moment for hair loss.” The GLP-1 treatments for diabetes and weight loss “succeeded not just because they worked, but because they addressed a massive, underserved, and deeply personal consumer need with a convenient, infrequent injectable format,” BTIG said. The investment bank noted that roughly 80 million Americans live with hair loss, and that the Food and Drug Administration last approved a new hair loss treatment some 30 years ago. AI platform Absci’s AI platform is a “genuine technological moat,” with the clinical-stage biotech constructing an “advanced end-to-end generative AI antibody platform,” BTIG said. “Each design-test cycle feeds a proprietary data lake that compounds in value with every program, creating a self-reinforcing moat that peers cannot easily replicate.” ABS-201 works by blocking the prolactin receptor, a membrane-bound protein found on the surface of cells in the breasts, brain and other organs. This shifts hair follicles from regressing into active growth. Preclinical data show that the process preserves growing follicles and restores pigmentation, a hallmark of re-growth. ABS-201 is currently in Phase 1/2A trials for androgenetic alopecia and is advancing into endometriosis, a condition affecting 10% of women worldwide. BTIG anticipates the ABS-201 study on endometriosis to begin in the fourth quarter. “While the AI drug discovery space is crowded conceptually, Absci’s real-world traction, breadth of capabilities, and growing data/partner ecosystem gives it a defensible multi-year lead in the race to AI-designed medicines,” according to BTIG. Vancouver, Washington-based Absci came public in a July 2021 IPO at $16 a share.
