GSK (LSE:GSK) has been kept at a Hold rating, with its price target unchanged at 1,950p, as Deutsche Bank reacted to the pharmaceutical group's recent run of results in the clinic.
The drug maker's camlipixant chronic cough drug returned a split verdict from two pivotal trials that DB analyst Emmanuel Papadakis said will likely see the asset terminated.
Papadakis said he had expected a better run of pipeline newsflow following June's positive bepirovirsen hepatitis B data, but said GSK instead delivered a result "we didn't anticipate": one replicate trial, CALM1, hit its target while the second, CALM2, missed.
The setback matters because it perpetuates what Deutsche Bank calls a longstanding gap between GSK's guidance and consensus, with management targeting more than £40bn in sales by 2031 against Deutsche Bank and consensus estimates of £35bn to £37bn respectively.
Papadakis described the outcome as "a clear minor negative" for a stock he continues to value on the basis that GSK still needs further pipeline wins to close that bridge to its 2031 ambition.
