MannKind Surges 16% as Diabetes Drug Completes Trial

By Ben Levisohn

A good drug is hard to find. And MannKind (MNKD) just might have found a good one.

Today, the pharmaceutical company said that a trial showed its inhaled insulin helped diabetes sufferers. Bloomberg has the details:

Afrezza, a powdered form of insulin delivered through an inhaler, was more effective at controlling diabetics’ blood sugar levels when combined with oral diabetes medicines compared to those drugs alone, the Valencia, California-based company said today in a statement. The results are from the last stage of testing required to get U.S. regulatory approval. If cleared for sale, the product would be the only inhaled insulin on the market, potentially replacing injections and pumps.

Cowen’s Simos Simeonidis and Yatin Suneja, who rate MannKind Market Perform, pose two questions for investors to consider:

So, assuming it is approved, the question becomes 1) can MannKind find a partner and 2) how much would AFREZZA be used?

Griffin Securities analyst Keith Markey thinks finding a partner is a given:

The data will be submitted by early October, so approval should come by early April. In the interim, Mannkind will seek a marketing partner(s) and a deal could be struck fairly quickly, as the regulatory risk has virtually dissipated. Much will depend on the number of companies involved and the terms offered. Regardless, Mannkind has cleared a key inflection point, and it has adequate financing to get through approval.

Markey rates the stock a Buy with an $11 price target. Shares of MannKind have jumped 14% to $7.85 today. The SPDR Biotech ETF (XBI) has gained 0.7% to $119.85 today, while Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) has gained 1% to $49.05, NPS Pharmaceuticals (NPSP) has fallen 4.1% to $23.56, and InterMune (ITMN) has risen 2.6% to $14.89.