By David Moskowitz
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SNSS) is getting the benefit of a price target increase this morning; Roth Capital raised its price target on the stock from $7.00 to $12.00, after the company hosted its Analyst Day yesterday in NY. This follows a price target increase to $10.00 by brokerage firm, Leerink Swan on Wednesday, suggesting that the stock has room to run. Importantly, the VALOR study had enrolled 412 patients as of mid-September out of the planned 675 patients (trial was recently upsized from 450 patients). See our previous story here. At its Analyst meeting yesterday, the company stated that enrollment for the trial is expected to be complete in 2013. Unblinding of the VALOR trial is set for when there are 562 events, which is projected for 1H 2014. Yesterday’s meeting reviewed the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board’s assessment of the pre-planned interim analysis, and that the decision to upsize the trial was based on efficacy data trending in the “promising zone”. Moreover, increasing the number of subjects in the study, significantly improves the trial’s chances of success. For example, according to an analysis presented by the company, by increasing the number of patients, the power of detecting a favorable benefit in overall survival (OS) goes from 58% to 84% if there is a 25% improvement in OS between the study groups (the company’s base assumption). (more…)
