Daily Brief Health Care: Biotage, Intuitive Surgical, Lexaria Bioscience , Oryzon Genomics, Samsung Biologics and more

• Gross spread is 2.62%, implying a solid annualized return of ~22.0% assuming a June closing—an attractive profile given the minimal regulatory and financing risks.
• The market is pricing in a ~93.2% probability of deal success, reflecting strong confidence driven by Board support, substantial shareholder backing (36% aligned), and the absence of antitrust red flags.
• Challenging but feasible threshold: requires 84.3% of free flaot to tender to reach the 90% acceptance condition and enable squeeze out.

• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG US) revenue grew 19% YoY to $2.3B in 1Q25.  Procedures volume grew ~17% YoY, which boosted instruments and accessories revenue.
• The company placed 367 da Vinci surgical systems, compared with 313 in 1Q24. It included 147 da Vinci 5 systems, compared with 8 in the same period last year.
• Intuitive has raised the procedure growth guidance range from 13–15% to 15–17%, while trimming down gross margin to the range 65–66.5% from 67–68%, due to tariffs.

• Lexaria is a biotechnology company seeking to enhance the bioavailability of multiple drug agents using DehydraTECH (DHT), its technology using oral and topical delivery.
• It combines lipophilic APIs with specific fatty acid and carrier compounds followed by dehydration.
• DHT offers several attractive features: substantial improvement in bioabsorption in terms of time to measurable plasma levels & AUC, brain permeation, taste masking & side effect reduction.

Oryzon has secured €30m through an equity raise (straight equity, no warrants attached) to support clinical development activities and other corporate initiatives, offering the potential to extend its cash runway well into 2027. Management communicated that the offering was significantly oversubscribed with strong investor demand, noting that €15m of the round was anchored by a US-based institutional investor, with the remaining demand filled by investors across the US, Europe and Spain. We view the announcement as an important development for Oryzon, especially considering the overall macroeconomic environment. The next key inflection point remains FDA clearance for its Phase III programme in borderline personality disorder (BPD), anticipated within H125.

• Samsung Biologics (207940 KS) recorded 120% YoY increase in operating profit to KRW487B, while net profit increased 109% YoY to KRW376B in 1Q25. Revenue increased 37% YoY to KRW1,298B.
• Stable ramp-up of Plant 4 while maintaining the full utilization of Plants 1 through 3, alongside favorable impact of foreign exchange rates drove 1Q25 performance.
• 1Q25 order intake amounted to approximately 40% of the total annual contract volume in 2024. Despite ongoing tariff threat, Samsung Biologics has maintained full-year guidance of 20–25% revenue growth.