Laidlaw Reiterates Buy Rating on Curis (CRIS) with $65 Price Target

This morning, CRIS updated investors on emavusertib in CLL development with the first five patients have been dosed in the CLL Phase I/II (TakeAim CLL) study. Our takeaway is this will be an important milestone for emavusertib in CLL development. Based on the MOA rationale of co-targeting BCR and TLR signal pathway simultaneously by knocking down NFB more completely, coupled with clinical and preclinical evidence, if successful the upside could be very substantial. CRIS reported earlier that 11 clinical sites had opened for enrollment and 10 patients had consented to the emavusertib in CLL Phase I/II (TakeAim CLL) study. This morning’s announcement indicated that they achieved the previously stated goal of dosing the first five patients in this study. This reaffirmed their expectation to report initial CLL data in 5-10 patients in 12/2026, possibly at the ASH. This development could also potentially trigger a financing event to exercise the ~$20MM series B warrants of as part of PIPE financing of 1/2026. We view today’s update positively as the important first step for emavusertib to potentially address the substantially large NHL sector of CLL. Based on recent analysis, the annual incidence of CLL in the U.S. in 2024 was 20.7k, while prevalence was 215k. Together, as emavusertib demonstrated robust clinical results that increase its chance of approval in an orphan ibrutinib r/r PCNSL indication, the venture in CLL, if successful, represents a much larger upside. We are reiterating our Buy rating and $65 target price.

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