Cardiol Therapeutics (TSX:CRDL, NASDAQ:CRDL) has retained a ‘Buy’ rating with an increased price target from Canaccord Genuity (TSX:CF, LSE:CF) analysts following the release of its first-quarter results.
As of March 31, 2023, Canaccord said Cardiol had cash and cash equivalents of C$49.5 million, which the company’s management believes will be sufficient to achieve corporate milestones and fund operations into the second quarter of 2026.
“We reiterate our 'Buy' rating and increase our 12-month price target to $6 from $5,” the analysts wrote in a note. “The increase is primarily due to the shortening of the discount period in our model.”
The analysts noted that Cardiol management believes there is a significant opportunity for the company to receive Orphan Drug status for its lead product candidate CardiolRx for treating acute myocarditis as there is currently no accepted standard of care therapy. They added that the company is currently enrolling patients in the Phase II ARCHER trial and expects to complete enrollment this year.
Additionally, they stated Cardiol expects to complete the enrollment of 25 patients in the Phase II open-label pilot study investigating the tolerability, safety, and efficacy of CardiolRx in recurrent pericarditis and to report data later this year or early next year.
“Management discussed the option to extend the study to a multi-national trial following completion of the pilot study,” the analysts said.
“In addition to standard safety assessments, the study is designed to evaluate improvement in objective measures of disease from baseline out to eight weeks, and during the extension period, assess the feasibility of weaning concomitant background therapy including corticosteroids, while taking CardiolRx.”
The analysts said they have not included Cardiol’s preclinical development of a subcutaneously administered drug formulation of cannabidiol as a potent anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory therapy for use in heart failure in their model projections, noting that management believes this could become a first-in-class therapy for the indication.
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