Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) has had a rocky few years. Its multiple sclerosis franchise has been bleeding market share to generics and biosimilars, revenue has trended down, and the stock spent much of 2025 trading near multi-year lows.
So when Goldman Sachs steps up with a price target hike to $250, it’s worth asking what the bank is actually seeing.
The short answer: Leqembi, Biogen’s Alzheimer’s treatment, is delivering. And the case for the stock goes beyond today’s sales figures, hinging on what the next 18 months could look like if several catalysts land on schedule.
Goldman’s analyst Salveen Richter raised the bank’s price target on BIIB from $238 to $250, keeping a buy rating intact, according to MarketScreener.
The move followed a Q1 2026 earnings report that comfortably beat expectations, topped off by encouraging signals from Biogen’s experimental next-generation Alzheimer’s drug.
Goldman’s $250 target reflects more than one drug doing well
Goldman didn’t raise its target on blind optimism. The Biogen Q1 2026 earnings report gave the bank real data to work with.
Biogen posted Q1 revenue of $2.48 billion, up 2% year over year, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.57, well ahead of the $2.95 consensus estimate.
According to the Q1 2026 earnings transcript, Leqembi generated $168 million in global in-market sales during the quarter, a 74% jump from the same period a year ago.
That 74% growth rate is the kind of number that gets a bank’s attention. Leqembi is still early in its commercial ramp, which means the growth curve has room to steepen if a few structural hurdles clear.
Goldman’s Salveen Richter pressed management on the Q1 earnings call about blood-based biomarker adoption, a key factor in whether Leqembi can reach more patients faster.
The short version: Adoption is accelerating, particularly through Biogen’s primary care pilot program, which is showing higher biomarker usage rates among enrolled physicians.
That matters because diagnosing Alzheimer’s at earlier stages opens up a larger pool of eligible patients for treatment.
Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi is reshaping Wall Street’s outlook for the Cambridge-based biotech’s long-term growth story.Photo by Boston Globe on Getty Images
What Leqembi’s commercial momentum actually signals
Leqembi is an FDA-approved therapy for early Alzheimer’s disease that works by removing amyloid plaques from the brain, Reuters noted.
Amyloid is a protein that builds up abnormally in Alzheimer’s patients and is widely believed to contribute to cognitive decline.
Leqembi holds 65% to 70% market share on a patient-number basis over Eli Lilly’s competing drug Kisunla, according to Eisai’s most recent guidance, Investing.com confirmed.
That’s a meaningful lead in a market that is still small but widely expected to grow substantially as awareness, diagnostics, and reimbursement infrastructure improve.
A key near-term catalyst for Leqembi’s growth, Practical Neurology confirms, is the FDA’s Aug. 24 PDUFA decision date for IQLIK, a subcutaneous (under-the-skin autoinjector) formulation of Leqembi. This matters for a practical reason.
Currently, patients receive Leqembi via an intravenous drip at a clinic, every two weeks.
The subcutaneous version would allow once-weekly home dosing in roughly 15 seconds. Patient convenience alone could meaningfully improve retention and access, especially in markets where infusion centers are not widely available.
Here’s what Biogen’s Leqembi growth story depends on:
FDA approval of IQLIK’s induction subcutaneous formulation by the August 24 PDUFA date
Full Medicare Part D coverage kicking in as of January 2027, which would remove the biggest cost barrier for U.S. seniors
Continued expansion of blood-based biomarker testing, which lets primary care doctors screen patients earlier and more easily
International approvals in Japan and China for the subcutaneous formulation, which would add a second growth leg outside the U.S.
The experimental drug that quietly added fuel to Goldman’s call
Alongside the Q1 earnings beat, Biogen dropped another significant piece of news that drew less attention than it deserved.
On May 14, 2026, Biogen’s investor relations page shared topline results from the Phase 2 CELIA study for diranersen (BIIB080), an experimental drug designed to reduce tau protein in the brain.
Unlike Leqembi, which targets amyloid, diranersen goes after tau, a second protein associated with Alzheimer’s progression.
Biogen described the CELIA results as “the first study to show reduction in tau pathology and cognitive benefit in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.”
The trial did not hit its primary dose-response endpoint, which is a specific statistical hurdle, but Biogen revealed it plans to advance diranersen to registrational development anyway, based on the broader signals the trial produced.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which developed the drug and licensed it to Biogen, separately confirmed that decision.
This is meaningful context for the Goldman target raise.
If diranersen reaches approval in the years ahead, Biogen would have two distinct mechanisms targeting Alzheimer’s, giving it potentially the deepest clinical footprint in a disease category that affects more than 6 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
How BIIB has performed compared to the broader market
It helps to put the stock’s recent trajectory in concrete terms. Here’s a look at BIIB versus the S&P 500‘s recent performance snapshot.
The stock’s 52-week run from $119 to nearly $206 reflects a substantial re-rating, with most of the gains coming as Leqembi’s commercial performance improved and multiple analysts lifted price targets.
Yet even at current levels, Biogen trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio that remains well below large-cap biotech peers.
UBS, which upgraded BIIB to buy with a $225 target in late April 2026, according to 24/7 Wall St, noted the stock trades at roughly 13x forward earnings, a meaningful discount to the sector. Guggenheim has a $260 price target on BIIB, also with a buy rating, StreetInsider reported.
That gives investors a rough range of where the bull case sits: somewhere between Goldman’s $250 and Guggenheim’s $260, depending on how the pipeline delivers.
What still needs to happen before BIIB can hit $250
Goldman’s $250 target is not a given. There are real conditions that need to fall into place.
The risks worth keeping in mind:
Biogen’s total revenue is still expected to decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2026, driven by continued erosion in its older multiple sclerosis drugs.
The company trimmed its full-year 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $14.25 to $15.25, partly due to charges from acquisitions, including the planned $5.6 billion deal to buy Apellis Pharmaceuticals.
The IQLIK FDA decision on August 24 is binary. An approval would likely push the stock higher; a setback or a complete response letter could reverse recent gains quickly.
Diranersen’s path from Phase 2 to approval is long, likely taking several years, and Phase 3 trials regularly fail, even when Phase 2 data look promising.
The Apellis acquisition deserves attention here.
Biogen struck a deal to buy Apellis for roughly $5.6 billion, adding two approved drugs in immunology and rare kidney disease (Empaveli and Syfovre) and strengthening the case for felzartamab, its Phase 3 kidney-disease candidate.
That deal will add leverage and pressure-free cash flow in the near term, with management forecasting full debt repayment by the end of 2027.
Key takeaways for investors on Biogen stock
Goldman Sachs’ $250 target reflects real commercial momentum: Leqembi growing 74% year-over-year, market leadership over Eli Lilly‘s Kisunla, and a next-generation drug producing the first clinical evidence of tau reduction and cognitive benefit.
The bear case is equally real. Overall revenue is still declining, the Apellis acquisition loads the balance sheet, and the MS franchise keeps shrinking, Grandview Research notes.
The question for investors is whether Leqembi’s growth curve becomes large enough, fast enough, to carry the weight.
The $250 target implies roughly 15-20% upside from recent trading levels, but getting there requires Leqembi’s momentum to hold, IQLIK to clear its August 24 FDA hurdle, and the Alzheimer’s market to keep expanding.
Long-term investors who believe in that trajectory will find Biogen’s current valuation compelling.
Those who need steadier fundamentals may want to wait for the IQLIK decision before adding exposure.
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