** Shares of drug developer Summit Therapeutics SMMT.O fall 3.6% to $21.28 premarket
** Brokerage Leerink Partners starts coverage on SMMT with "underperform" rating and $12 PT, a 46% downside to the stock's last close
** Brokerage says it doesn't believe SMMT's lung cancer therapy, ivonescimab, is "the next Keytruda", Merck's MRK.N blockbuster cancer drug
** Views SMMT as "by far the worst-positioned" competitor, requiring a major partnership beyond their Pfizer PFE.N ADC collaboration to compete effectively
** Leerink believes SMMT's drug faces "unrealistic share" expectations in the cancer immunotherapy market, given the "intense and heterogeneous competitive landscape"
** Summit faces "unfavorable cost dynamics" including "low-double-digit royalties" to Chinese partner Akeso 9926.HK and reliance on contract manufacturers - brokerage
** As of last close, stock up 23.7% YTD
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru)
((Kamal.Choudhury@thomsonreuters.com;))
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