Shares of Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) did not just do well on Wednesday. The stock hit an all-time high. News hit late in the day that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the company’s new multiple sclerosis treatment. Biogen was also benefiting from positive drug data ahead of this news.
Biogen Idec already has a substantial lead over just about every other company producing multiple sclerosis drugs. Today’s reported approval is on TECFIDERA as a treatment for adults with relapsing MS. The press release confirmed that TECFIDERA was approved as a first-line oral treatment for MS.
Shares were already higher along with a strong market and along with positive drug news about a drug today. One word of caution is that Biogen is trading above its consensus price target from Wall St. analysts. That consensus target from Thomson Reuters has a one-year target at just over $175.00. After looking at the news, investors should probably expect that price target will likely be raised after the positive drug data and with a new FDA approval under its belt.
The news all-time high is now $184.17 and the stock closed up over 3% at $182.68. We would note that analysts have chased this and other biotech stocks up and up as the target price before the end of 2012 was all the way down at $158.50.
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