What happened
Shares of Karyopharm Therapeutics (KPTI -0.92%), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, rose as much as 10% in early-morning trading on Tuesday. Shares were up about 7% as of 11:45 a.m. EST.
So what
Investors can thank Eric Joseph, an analyst at JPMorgan, for today's bullish move. Joseph upgraded Karyopharm's stock to overweight and raised his price target to $16. That's much higher than yesterday's closing price of $8.33.
Joseph's bullishness on Karyopharm's stock is a result of a recent survey of doctors that showed 75% of respondents planned on prescribing its newly FDA-approved multiple myeloma drug Xpovio within the next year.
Traders are cheering in response to the analyst upgrade and the upbeat survey results.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Xpovio only received FDA approval on July 3rd, so investors won't know for quite some time whether the drug will go on to become a commercial success. While bulls have every reason to be excited about Xpovio's potential, launching a new drug is always difficult since it can be hard to win over payers, providers, and patients. For that reason, my plan is to watch how Karyopharm performs from the safety of the sidelines, though I'll be happy to change my tune if the drug gets off to a fast start right out of the gate.
