In July, Artiva Biotherapeutics, Inc. ( ARTV ) priced its upsized initial public offering of 13.92 million shares at $12.00 per share, with gross proceeds of approximately $167.0 million.

Artiva is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing cell therapies for patients with devastating autoimmune diseases and cancers.

Artiva’s lead program, AlloNK, is an allogeneic, off-the-shelf, non-genetically modified, cryopreserved NK cell therapy candidate designed to enhance the antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity effect of monoclonal antibodies to drive B-cell depletion.

AlloNK is currently in clinical trials for systemic lupus erythematosus, patients with or without lupus nephritis, and an investigator-initiated basket trial in multiple autoimmune indications.

Artiva’s pipeline also includes CAR-NK candidates targeting both solid and hematologic cancers.

Needham initiates coverage on Artiva and says, “Artiva is developing what we view as scalable cellular therapeutics for autoimmune disorders.”

Needham notes that initial clinical results from the lupus study are expected in 2025, most probably in the first half of 2025. The analyst also sees AlloNK in lupus as the main near-term driver for Artiva.

A Needham analyst estimates that AlloNK could achieve approximately $1.7 billion in global sales for treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis (LN) by 2038, capturing around 20% of the market. The analyst also notes that several other companies are developing cellular therapies for SLE and LN, including other NK cell programs.

Needham has initiated with a Buy rating and a price target of $23.

Wedbush also initiated coverage on Artiva Biotherapeutics ( ARTV ), noting that the company’s cell therapy is straightforward to manufacture and deliver and adaptable to different targets.

Recent studies have confirmed that various cell-based therapies are effective for different autoimmune conditions, showing a link between B-cell depletion and symptom improvement.

Wedbush initiated with an Outperform rating with a price target of $18.

“Given the level of B-cell depletion achieved in Artiva’s B-NHL study, we believe AlloNK has the potential to drive deep and durable remissions in B-cell dependent autoimmune diseases,” Wedbush analyst added.

Price Action: ARTV stock is down 0.36% at $11.18 at last check Tuesday.

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