Ascendis Pharma shares surged 42% in premarket trade Friday after news that competitor Versartis Inc.’s late-stage clinical trial missed its primary endpoint. Both companies are developing human growth hormone therapies. Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos raised Ascendis Pharma’s price target nearly 81% to $65 on Friday, calling Versartis’ human growth hormone product “no longer a threat.” Ascendis Pharma’s treatment for pediatric growth hormone deficiency is expected to finish enrollment in a late-stage trial in the fourth quarter of this year, and the company also plans to start two trials in the second half of this year, Moussatos said, with results expected in the second half of next year and applications for Food and Drug Administration approval in the first half of 2019. Ascendis Pharma shares have surged 20.5% over the last three months and Versartis shares have surged 25.6%, compared with a 2.7% rise in the S&P 500 .
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