Is valrox dead?

Biomarin’s market cap lost $7.5bn on yesterday’s US rejection of its haemophilia A gene therapy project valrox. The number is huge, coming close to what some of the most bullish analysts say the entire asset is worth, and being higher than a calculation of valrox’s entire NPV based on consensus sales forecasts.

An obvious reading of this is that the market has entirely written off valrox. True, the buyside’s own assumptions were likely even more overblown, but it serves as a cautionary tale; enthusiasts of competing gene therapies from Roche and Pfizer/Sangamo should think carefully before celebrating their win.B