6 Biotech Companies with Upside Potential

Microcapspesculators.com has come out with a report noting certain research-and-development spending trends that are expected to stimulate biotech development. And in that context, they note six biotech companies that they believe will benefit the most from those trends.

Specifically, the trends include large-scale DNA sequence manipulation, especially Europe’s New and Emerging Synthetic Technology (NEST) program, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and National Biotechnology Board (NTBT),which are providing funding money to promote biotechnology market share. Others include BioBricks, a non-profit organization that delivers synthetic biology technologies, and OpenWetWater, a synthetic forum that offers conceptual training to researchers.

Microcapspeculators cite the following six companies as being likely to benefit most from these trends.

#1. Propanc Biopharma. Located in Richmond, Australia, Propanc is a clinical stage biopharma company focused on developing treatments for pancreatic, ovarian and colorectal cancers using proenzyme therapies. The report notes, the company "recently announced allowance of a key patent application from the European Patent Office (EPO) covering a pharmaceutical composition for treating cancer comprising trypsinogen and chemotrypsinogen within the European Union. The allowed patent application is the first approval for the company in the EU, which protects the company’s lead product candidate, PRP, a solution for once-daily intravenous administration of a combination of two pancreatic proenzymes trypsinogen and chemotrypsinogen."

#2. Gilead Sciences. Headquartered in Foster City, California, Gilead is best known for its drugs for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, although it also has products for cancer, inflammation, respiratory diseases and cardiovascular conditions. Gilead’s HIV franchise brought in more than $14 billion in revenue in 2017. Which creates something of a Catch-22 when it’s actively working to find a cure for the disease. It recently announced preclinical trial results in monkeys where a two-drug combo appeared to cure the animals of the disease. One of the drugs, GS-9620 is in an early-stage clinical study and a related drug to the other in the combination, GS-9722, is now beginning human testing.

The problem, as noted by Keith Speights with The Motley Fool, is that Gilead has been down this road with hepatitis C. "A cure for HIV would be fantastic for patients," he writes. "It would also likely be very profitable for Gilead Sciences—at first. But the biotech’s experience with its hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs shows that the long-term impact might not be so great for Gilead."

The company’s hepatitis C drugs took off at first, but as the patient pool grew smaller and smaller, revenue has dropped. A cure for HIV could do the same thing. Great for patients, not so great for the company in the long term.

#3. Amgen. Based in Thousand Oaks, California, Amgen’s best-known products are Neulasta/Neupogen, to prevent infections in cancer patients, and Enbrel, for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Most recently, the company announced data from two new studies looking at ways for patients to access PCSK9 inhibitors for high cholesterol. That’s undoubtedly a priority for the company, whose Repatha, a PCSK9 inhibitor, has been struggling to gain traction in the marketplace, largely because of high costs and payers’ reluctance to reimburse for it.

#4. Biogen. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Biogen is best known for its multiple sclerosis (MS) franchise and its heavy turn toward Alzheimer’s and other central nervous system disorders. The report indicates that the company "announced this week an agreement to acquire from Pfizer Inc. PF-04958242, a first-in-class, Phase IIb-ready AMPA receptor potentiator for cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS)."

#5. Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Jazz focuses on sleep and hematology/oncology. It markets Xyrem, Erwinaze, Defitelio and Vyxeos. On March 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted its New Drug Application (NDA) for to treat excessive sleepiness in adults with narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea. The PDUFA date for a decision is December 20, 2018.

#6. Seattle Genetics. Headquartered in Bothell, Washington, Seattle Genetics focuses on developing antibody-drug conjugates to treat cancer. On March 9, the company completed its acquisition of Cascadian Therapeutics. As part of that deal, Seattle Genetics picked up tucatinib, an investigational oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that has potential for treating multiple cancers, including breast, colorectal, ovarian and gastric.

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