This biotech is leading what could be a 'GLP-1 moment for hair loss,' says BTIG

An experimental treatment for hair loss is being hailed on Wall Street. BTIG began research coverage of Absci Corporation on Thursday with a buy rating and 12-month price target of $9, saying its AI-designed, long-acting antibody, ABS-201, could see peak sales of as much as $2.2 billion. The antibody has the potential to be "the first new mechanism of action in androgenetic alopecia in nearly three decades," Absci said in its first-quarter earnings release earlier this month, adding that it had also begun a an endometriosis clinical advisory board for the ABS-201 program. "ABS-201 is a genuinely differentiated asset across two large, underserved markets," BTIG analyst Kambiz Yazdi wrote in a 39-page report, and "could be the GLP-1 moment for hair loss." The GLP-1 treatments for diabetes and weight loss "succeeded not just because they worked, but because they addressed a massive, underserved, and deeply personal consumer need with a convenient, infrequent injectable format," BTIG said. The investment bank noted that roughly 80 million Americans live with hair loss, and that the Food and Drug Administration last approved a new hair loss treatment some 30 years ago. AI platform Absci's AI platform is a "genuine technological moat," with the clinical-stage biotech constructing an "advanced end-to-end generative AI antibody platform," BTIG said. …