BUZZ- Galapagos fall as MS downgrades to "underweight", cuts PT

U.S-listed shares of Belgium-based drug developer Galapagos GLPG.AS, GLPG.O fall 1.2% to $25.1 premarket

Morgan Stanley downgrades rating of GLPG to "underweight" from "equal weight"; lowers PT to $22 from $31

New PT represents a 13.7% downside to the stock's last close

GLPG is deprioritizing the development of its therapy candidate GLPG5201 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and a related condition, to expand development of lead therapy GLPG5101

GLPG5101 development will be expanded to diseases including CLL, which is a type of blood cancer

We downgrade GLPG to underweight as GLPG5101 has not yet generated clinical data in the diseases - MS

MS tempers probability of success for these indications until it has better visibility on the efficacy of GLPG5101 within these patient populations

MS also says it sees favorable conditions for the stock due to limited competition in the market for this cancer treatment

Stock fell 34.7% in the last 12 months