One day after enduring a nearly 40% decline in its share price, bitoech Replimune (REPL -4.61%) was also down on Friday, although nowhere near as steeply. The company's stock was in the red by almost 7%, which didn't look so hot next to the S&P 500's (^GSPC -0.16%) gain of 0.5%. A recommendation downgrade from an analyst was a major reason for the day's decline.
A cloudy future
Well before market open that morning, Anupam Rama from J.P. Morgan changed his recommendation on Replimune from neutral to underweight (sell, in other words). The analyst withdrew his $6 price target and did not set a new one.
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Rama based much of his new take on the company on the latest developments with its investigational melanoma treatment RP1, according to reports. On Thursday, the company disclosed that it met with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials to discuss the regulator's unwillingness to approve the medication. The outcome of those talks, it seemed, was inconclusive.
The analyst wrote that while RP1 clearly performed well in clinical testing, its future is now very much up in the air, with at least accelerated FDA approval not likely to occur.
Another pundit weighs in
Rama was not the only analyst publishing an update on Replimune. His peer Raghuram Selvaraju of H.C. Wainwright authored a note reiterating his neutral recommendation on the stock. It was not immediately clear what price target the prognosticator set for the biotech's stock.
