No one’s sure what to make of long-acting PCSK9

Despite the banality of its name, the Medicines Company is the subject of a fascinating debate in biotech.

The company has, ahem, a medicine that uses RNA interference, or RNAi, to shut down the production of PCSK9 and thus theoretically lower bad cholesterol better and for longer than the antibodies marketed by Amgen and partners Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Late-stage data won’t be available until next quarter, but over the weekend, the company released long-term safety results that made its twice-a-year treatment look competitive with those monthly or bi-monthly antibodies.

But does the world need another PCSK9 treatment? The two antibodies, Praluent and Repatha, began their lives as poster children for commercial disappointment, gaining traction only after their makers more than halved their prices to appease payers used to cheap, generic statins.

The Medicines Company’s data to date have convinced many analysts that the stock is a winner — Baird set a price target of $110 per share — but the company currently trades at just $34. That suggests the market isn’t sure long-acting cholesterol relief, however safe, is going to become a successful product.