Daily Brief Health Care: Lepu Medical Technology A, Aft Pharmaceuticals, D.Western Therapeutics Institute Inc., Evaxion Biotech A/S, Ainos , OSE Immuno, Sareum Holdings and more

• The June 2025 index review results for the ChiNext and ChiNext 50 indices were announced yesterday.
• There will be eight changes for the ChiNext index and five changes for the ChiNext 50 index.
• In this insight, we take a look at our final flow expectations for the the ChiNext and ChiNext 50 index rebal events.

AFT Pharmaceuticals reported FY25 revenues of N Z$208m, posting a strong recovery in H2, with dissipating headwinds and traditional H2 seasonality offsetting the softer H1 performance. H225 revenues (N Z$121.3m) grew 40% over H125 and 9% y-o-y, driven by sustained domestic market momentum and international market recovery. The FY25 operating margin of 8.5% (12.4% in FY24) was affected by lower licensing income and investments in marketing, R&D and international expansion, but these investments should deliver upside opportunities in the longer term. The balance sheet remains strong (net debt reduced to N Z$14.5m, 0.7x EBITDA), supporting the announcement of a 1.8c per share dividend (c 17% payout ratio). Management aims to achieve N Z$300m in revenues by end-FY27 and has guided for operating profit of N Z$20–24m in FY26, with increased operating leverage in the medium term. We update our valuation for AFT to N Z$691.4m or N Z$6.59/share, from N Z$697.4m or N Z$6.65/share previously.

• SIR believes DWTI has entered an exciting new phase given significant advances in pipeline development achieved over the last year.
• Key advances included: 1) publishing favorable topline results of in-house H-1337 PIIb US trials (strong prospects as “first choice as a second-line Glaucoma drug”)
• 2) commenced jointly developed Japan PII clinical trials of regenerative medicine cell therapy DWR-2206 with ActualEyes, and successfully completing all transplants

• EVAX is a clinical stage company that has proprietary AI models designed to more efficiently and more accurately target much-needed treatments.
• The company has two streams of possible revenue: from the treatments themselves and from the licensing of AI technology.
• The company announced it received a grant to develop a new and unique vaccine with the goal of eradicating polio.

• Surpassed initial accuracy milestone in elderly care. Ainos provided new AI Nose data in the elderly care co- development project, reaching ~85% accuracy in excretion odor detection.
• The updated accuracy rate is an improvement over the recently met internal milestone of 80%.
• Accuracy improved with data-driven AI machine learning. AI Nose achieved 85% accuracy based on 254 subject events in Japan and Taiwan, leading to 2,119 sample entries for statistical evaluation. 

OSE Immunotherapeutics presented multiple updates at the 61st Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology Conference (ASCO 2025) related to Tedopi, its proprietary off-the-shelf neoepitope-based cancer vaccine. Notably, detailed results were published for TEDOPaM, the investigator-sponsored Phase II trial assessing Tedopi in combination with FOLFIRI in patients with pancreatic cancer (positive top-line data first announced in March 2025). In our view, the results were highly encouraging, especially as this is a difficult-to-treat form of cancer where patients face very poor prognoses. Separately, OSE presented an overview of its lead programme, ARTEMIA, a Phase III registrational trial for Tedopi in non-small cell lung cancer, confirming that enrolment is progressing according to plan. Collectively, we believe the ASCO 2025 update highlights Tedopi’s promising potential in addressing multiple tumour types for HLA-A2 positive patients, showcasing the value proposition for the candidate.

OSE Immunotherapeutics presented multiple updates at the 61st Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology Conference (ASCO 2025) related to Tedopi, its proprietary off-the-shelf neoepitope-based cancer vaccine. Notably, detailed results were published for TEDOPaM, the investigator-sponsored Phase II trial assessing Tedopi in combination with FOLFIRI in patients with pancreatic cancer (positive top-line data first announced in March 2025). In our view, the results were highly encouraging, especially as this is a difficult-to-treat form of cancer where patients face very poor prognoses. Separately, OSE presented an overview of its lead programme, ARTEMIA, a Phase III registrational trial for Tedopi in non-small cell lung cancer (FOLFIRI), confirming that enrolment is progressing according to plan. Collectively, we believe the ASCO 2025 update highlights Tedopi’s promising potential in addressing multiple tumour types for HLA-A2 positive patients, showcasing the value proposition for the candidate.

Sareum Holdings has reported the initiation of toxicology studies required ahead of the Phase II studies for its lead TYK2/JAK1 asset, SDC-1801. We view this as a key milestone in SDC-1801’s development plan, with results likely to bolster any upcoming discussions with potential licensing partners. The studies will evaluate SDC-1801’s general toxicology and potential drug-drug interactions, with completion expected in Q4 CY25. With a cash runway into 2026, the company is well funded to reach this milestone. This news follows Sareum’s recent decision to test its TYK2/JAK1 programme in central nervous system (CNS) indications, following supportive preclinical data. TYK2/JAK1 mediate the activity of neuroinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, IL-12, IL-23, IFN-α/β, and are emerging as potential targets in CNS, a space that has seen a resurgence in activity and investor interest.