Galapagos "hold," target price reduced

10/16/07 - ING Financial Markets

LONDON, October 16 (newratings.com) - Analyst Mark Clark of ING Financial Markets maintains his "hold" rating on Galapagos (GXE). The 12-month target price has been reduced from €9.5 to €7.3.

In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company generated disappointing organic sales growth in 1H07 on account of a significant slowdown in the drug discovery services business. Galapagos has placed the Phase II HRT drug E2G on hold, since it intends to focus on its own internal programmes, the analyst adds. The company is expected to sign a new partnership deal by the end of this year, ING Financial Markets says.