Street View: Aardvark slides after pausing late-stage trial; multiple analysts cut PT

March 2 (Reuters) - Aardvark Therapeutics AARD.O on Friday voluntarily paused a late-stage trial testing its experimental treatment for a type of rare genetic disease after finding heart-related side effects in healthy volunteers

Shares fall 54% in premarket trading on Monday

At least four analysts cut PTs on the stock

BROKERAGES SPOOKED

Stifel (“hold,” PT: $6) says: "This adds significant uncertainty and it's very hard to build confidence in what the path forward may look like. The balance sheet is also a question"; adds safety issues seem plausibly drug-related

RBC Capital Markets (“sector perform,” PT: $6) calls the update "a bitter pill"; says the news "adds a layer of uncertainty to what was considered the lower-risk element of the program's profile, its acute safety"

Oppenheimer (“outperform,” PT: $21) says this lowers the likelihood of success for ARD-101 to 50% from 65% and pushes potential launch back by a year to 2029

BTIG (“buy,” PT: $9) calls the pause a “major setback” leading to concerns about long-term success; lowers PT to $9 from $26, but retains its rating on the company's experimental obesity treatment

William Blair (“buy,” PT: $9) says: "The event increases the clinical risk of ARD-101, as it calls into question the therapeutic window of ARD-101"; adds it is difficult to properly assess future prospects of the treatment given limited available information