Shares of Allergan Inc., the Irvine maker of Botox and other drugs, rose Friday after an analyst upgraded them.
Allergan was up about 3% in midday New York trading with a market value of about $19 billion.
Sean Lavin of Lazard Capital Markets LLC upgraded Allergan to “buy” from a previous “hold” in a research note.
Lavin said he upgraded Allergan for several reasons, including a survey of doctors and a “bullish meeting with management.”
Allergan senior management seems pleased so far with the drug maker’s ability to stave off competition so far from Scottsdale-based rival Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., Lavin said.
Medicis makes Restylane, a lower-face filler that competes with Allergan’s Juvéderm, while its Dysport botulinum toxin competes with Allergan’s longtime flagship Botox.
Besides that, Lavin said Allergan management looked forward to publishing data from clinical studies for Botox as a migraine headache treatment “and expects a successful launch.”
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its decision on Botox for migraine headaches in midyear.
As for doctors, Lavin said that 77% of them expected Botox and 57% expected Juvéderm to increase over the next year.
