NEW YORK -
Shares of Dyax Corp. surged Tuesday after the pharmaceutical company said it sold Sanofi-Aventis SA rights to develop antibody drugs for a potential $500 million in license fees and milestone payments.
The stock rose 62 cents, or 17.4 percent, to $4.18 in afternoon trading. Shares have traded between $3.15 and $6.95 over the last 52 weeks.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Dyax said it will receive $25 million in 2008 and retain profit-sharing rights to the drugs under development. Its key product under the contract, DX-2240, has potential as a treatment for several types of cancer. Meanwhile, the company's DX-88 lead product candidate, which is still unpartnered, is aimed at treating a potentially fatal genetic disorder called hereditary angioedema.
Pacific Growth Equities analyst Kimberly Lee reaffirmed a "Buy" rating on the stock, saying Dyax will likely continue to garner larger market share for its technology, given the need for pharmaceutical companies to fill their early-stage pipelines.
"The lucrative antibody agreements help validate Dyax's technology platform as well as Dyax's ability to discover novel antibody drug candidates from the platform and to advance the resulting products into development," she wrote in a note to investors.
She said DX-88 has a clear path to a potential FDA filing and that the drug candidate is now more attractive to potential partners.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank-North America analyst Jennifer Chao reaffirmed a "Buy" rating with $8 price target.
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