Drugmaker Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has been on the ropes for some time now since it lost its COVID-19 gravy train. However, there are some signs that it may have a new alternative brewing in a lung cancer treatment. That early news lit a small fire under Pfizer investors and sent shares up fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
Pfizer currently has a drug on the market called Lorbrena, which is used in treating “advanced non-small cell lung cancer” with a mutation in a gene known as ALK. That’s only about 5% of all non-small cell lung cancer patients, so it’s not exactly a widely-used therapy. However, the new tests suggest that Lorbrena can also be used to prevent the spread of that cancer to patients’ brains, and that may help things.
Right now, Lorbrena is commonly considered a “first-line treatment” for that kind of lung cancer. But with the new tests, it could be elevated to the standard treatment. Pfizer will be presenting the results of its study today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting.
A Billion Dollar Baby
The stakes are high for getting Lorbrena into more patients. Reports suggest that Pfizer itself believes that Lorbrena—if elevated to the standard—could ultimately reach “blockbuster” status as early as 2030. Given that the early results show 61% of patients on Lorbrena seeing no progression in their cancer after five years, that’s a potentially big win indeed. By way of comparison, Pfizer’s earlier release in this category, Xalkori, could only add five years without progression to just 8% of patients.
Is Pfizer a Buy or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on PFE stock based on seven Buys and 10 Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 21.23% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PFE price target of $32.79 per share implies 15.78% upside potential.
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