Apogee pulls back on $300 mln stock sale plans following eczema drug data

Apogee Therapeutics APGE.O shares down 9.3% at $71.84 on Tues as it looks to raise equity after encouraging eczema drug data

APGE shares ended up 20% at $79.24 on Mon after the drug, zumilokibart, showed lasting benefit in people with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis

Co said 75% of patients given the drug every three months and 85% every six months maintained an at least 75% improvement in disease severity at 52 weeks, in mid-stage trial

After the bell Mon, Waltham, Massachusetts-based APGE commenced $300 mln stock offering to fund preclinical studies, clinical trials, manufacturing, and commercial readiness activities, among other purposes

Jefferies, TD Cowen, Stifel and Guggenheim joint bookrunners

BTIG on Mon reiterated 'buy', saying 52-week data show zumilokibart with best-in-category efficacy on several endpoints that even eclipse Abbvie's ABBV.N Rinvoq, the leading JAK inhibitor

Reacting to the news, Guggenheim hiked its PT by $30 to Street-high $160, per LSEG; Citigroup upped its PT by $30 to $125 and Deutsche Bank raised PT by $10 to $118

Avg rating among 17 brokerages is "buy" and median PT of $118 up from $97.50 a month ago

With move on Tues, stock up about 75% over the past year and off 15% from record intraday high of $84.56 from Jan 14

Co has ~69.5 mln shares outstanding for about $5 bln current market cap