Here’s Why Acorda Therapeutics Shares Sunk 15% Today

FAN Editor

What happened

Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACOR) shares fell 15% on Tuesday to $16.16 following word Goldman Sachs cut its rating to “sell” and reduced its price target on the biotech by nearly 50% to $10 per share.

Continue Reading Below

So what

Goldman Sachs’ pessimism stems from a recent court decision invalidating patents preventing generic competition to Ampyra, Acorda Therapeutics’ multiple sclerosis drug.

The patent decision is a big blow to because Amprya accounted for $543 million of the company’s $588 million in revenue in 2017 and $138 million of its $140 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2018.

In addition to the prospect of declining revenue due to generic entrants, there’s also uncertainty associated with the upcoming FDA decision on Inbrija, an inhaled formulation of levodopa, a Parkinson’s disease drug. The FDA was expected to issue a decision on Inbrija in October; however, it pushed its decision back to Jan. 5.

Now what

Acorda Therapeutics has said it thinks Inbrija’s peak sales could reach $800 million someday. That may be an optimistic forecast, however, and even if it isn’t, there’s no certainty that the FDA will approve Inbrija. In August 2017, the FDA refused to file Acorda Therapeutics’ initial application for Inbrija, requesting more information, and in September, it delayed its decision on the resubmitted application for Amprya so that it could review additional information it had requested from the company.

Absent an Inbrija green light, next year could be a tough year for sales at Acorda Therapeutics, so investors are probably best served watching this one from the sidelines until there’s more clarity about Inbrija’s future.

10 stocks we like better than Acorda TherapeuticsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now… and Acorda Therapeutics wasn’t one of them! That’s right — they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of November 14, 2018

Todd Campbell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. His clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

Activists decry no-jail sentence for former frat president

In a case with echoes of the furor involving a Stanford University swimmer two years ago, advocates for sex-crime victims say the plea bargain that enabled a former Baylor University fraternity president to stay out of jail is another failure by the legal system. “What’s similar is that violence against […]