In today’s briefing:
- Amgen’s Big Bet on Obesity: Is This the Pharma Giant’s Next Breakout Moment?
- Universal Vision Biotechnology (3218 TT): There Are Plenty of Near-Term Pain Points
- Duality Biotherapeutics (映恩生物) Trading Update
- Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (2196 HK/600196 CH) – The Concerns Behind 2024 Results and the Outlook
- HURA: 2024 Financial Results
- J Frontier Co Ltd (2934 JP): Q3 FY03/25 Flash update
- SNGX: Updated IIS Data Shows 75% Response Rate and Three Complete Responses
Amgen’s Big Bet on Obesity: Is This the Pharma Giant’s Next Breakout Moment?
- Amgen is rapidly positioning itself as a formidable player in the obesity drug market, a sector that has witnessed explosive growth due to the popularity of GLP-1 based therapies from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
- The company’s investigational drug MariTide is generating significant interest following promising Phase II results showing up to 20% weight loss with monthly dosing.
- With two Phase III trials now underway—targeting both diabetic and non-diabetic patients—Amgen is accelerating its strategy to gain a slice of what analysts forecast to be a $100 billion market by 2030.
Universal Vision Biotechnology (3218 TT): There Are Plenty of Near-Term Pain Points
- Universal Vision Biotechnology (3218 TT) is struggling with expansion plans, decelerated revenue growth, and unfavorable revenue mix. 2024 revenue growth of 4% is significant deterioration from 17% reported in 2023.
- China business remained challenging. In 2024, revenue from China 22% YoY to NT$594M. Both the number of partnered hospitals and self-operated clinics/hospitals in China decreased during 2024.
- Through the first three months of 2025, revenue growth has not shown any sign of improvement. 1Q25 revenue grew just 5% YoY to NT$1,123M.
Duality Biotherapeutics (映恩生物) Trading Update
- Duality Biotherapeutics raised HKD 1,512m (USD 194m) from its global offering and will list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday, April 14th.
- In our previous note, we looked at the company’s business lines of ADC products and analyzed its valuation.
- In this note, we provide an update for the IPO before trading debut.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (2196 HK/600196 CH) – The Concerns Behind 2024 Results and the Outlook
- 2024 results appear to be improving, but there’s no large-scale/sustainable new increment with high certainty in revenue end.Fosun Pharma would rely on reducing costs/selling loss-making projects to recover profit/cash flow.
- Financial performance in 2025 could be under pressure due to VBP. Fosun Pharm is also mired in a huge guarantee quagmire. International business expansion is facing fierce market competition.
- There could be a “valuation discount” for Fosun Pharma due to the concerns on its business model and undervaluation could be a norm. Our recommendation is to invest Henlius directly.
HURA: 2024 Financial Results
- TuHURA is a clinical-stage, oncology-focused biotechnology company advancing innate immune agonists, checkpoint inhibitors & antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
- It offers the IFx platform technology featuring the IFx-2.0 tumoral injection delivery approach for Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) & the IFx-3.0 intravenous delivery approach for lymphoma.
- IFx encodes a bacterial protein to be expressed in cancer cells, activating the innate immune system & subsequent cascade that may eliminate the tumor.
J Frontier Co Ltd (2934 JP): Q3 FY03/25 Flash update
- The company reported revenue of JPY16.4bn (+32.1% YoY) and net income of JPY121mn, reversing previous losses.
- Medical Care Sales segment saw strong growth from D2C sales, driven by flagship products and enhanced advertising efficiency.
- Healthcare Marketing business achieved significant EBITDA boost from a profitable corporate project completed in Q3 FY05/25.
SNGX: Updated IIS Data Shows 75% Response Rate and Three Complete Responses
- On April 14, 2025, Soligenix, Inc. (SNGX) announced interim results from the ongoing, open label, investigator initiated study (IIS) evaluating HyBryte (synthetic hypericin) treatment for up to 54 weeks in patients with early stage cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL).
- Of the eight evaluable patients at Week 18, six (75%) achieved ‘treatment success’, which is defined as a =50% improvement in the cumulative mCAILS (modified Composite Assessment of Index Lesion Severity) score compared to baseline.
- Four patients have completed the 54-week treatment with an average maximum improvement in mCAILS of 85%.
💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma
Sign Up for Free
The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network
- ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
- ✓ Personalised Alerts
- ✓ Custom Watchlists
- ✓ Company Data and News
- ✓ Events & Webinars
