Arcturus Therapeutics downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citi

Citi analyst Yigal Nochomovitz downgraded Arcturus Therapeutics to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $29, down from $86. The reported 55% overall vaccine efficacy for ARCT-154 in the Vietnam Phase “falls meaningfully short” of the high bar set by Moderna and Pfizer, Nochomovitz tells investors in a research note. The analyst, who acknowledges that the predominance of delta and omicron during Arcturus’s study complicates the comparison, believes the headline 55% efficacy won’t inspire the FDA to act with urgency to approve ARCT-154. He says the lath forward for ARCT-154 is “too risky.”