The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
I mentioned the lack of an interview yesterday, its got me wondering if we are in negotiations for a buy out? Undergoing due diligence perhaps? Selling off the Mabs first because the other party doesnt want them maybe clears the way, and avoids the use of that company they started which was perhaps intended as a fall back if they sold Scancell to someone not interested in the Mabs to enable them to continue Mabs development ( and still might be used). Then you have 2 directors stepping down... job done perhaps and fully loaded with shares for what they know is coming? New advisors....The jigsaw is perhaps nearing completion.
It was typical Scancell timing to make one of its biggest ever announcements on a day when the media was agog at the Downing St. machinations and then promptly follow it up with another one that, if read by a potential investor, looks to be bad news. Being invested here is certainly hard work, and still no appearance of the CEO to tell the world about the deal.
So we are left to our own conjectures... and the hope that they are far too busy gasping at the brilliant results trickling in from test centres to worry about making a 15 minute video.
On balance yesterdays announcement was as unexpected as welcome and those results that we know are becoming due are still in play so yesterday was a bonus, an appetiser for the main events if you will.... roll on the banquet!
https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1584903166583152640?s=20&t=1HGmu_QaC4MgfcZvNJFciQ
They seem very complacent about their current sources of Energy
It looks to me as if the deal was agreed at the Hamburg Mabs convention that they scuttled off to at short notice with the details topped and tailed around the end of Septmber when the Pound was at 1.07 / 1.08 v the Dollar giving £ 200m per item. A couple of weeks later they decided to change advisor... so either there is something else afoot or maybe the previous advisor didnt live up to expectations? Either way, this deal will have put Sclp on the radar of other big players and may hasten other deals as a result. Onwards and upwards!
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Interesting that this follows on the heels of the somewhat short-notice trip to Hamburg. Its probable they met people from Stifel there, I wonder if they concluded they need more German speaking people onside for some reason? Mayb to ensure contracts work in both English and German law?
Conferences are often used to get everyone round the same table to finallise details of deals and sometimes put a signature on deals that have been discussed previously.......
Just saying...
TF...." Any new developments" when does a suggestion that something is perhaps working become a " development" ? Would you want an announcement based on a single person to be released? Or, might you wait until the number of patients showing improvement in their conditions are statistically significant beyond mere chance? This stuff cannot possibly be as back or white as you seem to suggest. I have no doubt that Lindy has an idea in her own mind at what point she can claim success and better that than a half-**** announcement which turns out to be a false alarm wouldn't you think?
I get the point Bermuda, but then you also have to factor in the earning power of the products over 10 years or more assuming they work. Curing cancers is not like producing widgets, look at what is spent on trying to abate these diseases at the moment , look at how much insurance companies pay out to victims, look at the cost of losing key employees and the cost of care required over extended periods of time, or the cost of the death of a main earner. How much is a course of treatment worth if it fixes the problem for ever?, £10k? £20K? £50K? £100k? More? Does £5Bn sound like a lot then? What would £1,2,3Billion a year Royalties for 10 years do to the share price especially with a x20 P/E? This is virtually uncharted territory, the last major healthcare hurdle, everyone's biggest fear in later life and a worldwide market..... £5 a share? £4Bn market cap? Pffft!
Extract.....
"Of significance, QMENTA recently obtained FDA 510(k) clearance for their platform, and we anticipate another partner to receive FDA 510(k) clearance for their platform in early '22. FDA market clearance allows commercialization to commence in the USA. This is the pinnacle milestone for being able to sell medical devices without restriction, and companies must demonstrate compliance with federal quality regulations in the design and development of each device. In addition, a major pharmaceutical company is working with yet another partner to develop their own custom platform which includes 3rd party artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. This company was very selective in choosing which 3rd party applications would participate in early launch activity in the USA and in Europe. IB software was one of the few selected partners given our unique and proven capabilities. This is highly encouraging as we expect an accelerated penetration of our solution in the global medical imaging market with the backing and broad outreach of a multibillion-dollar organization."
Following on from the earlier Bayer link, here is the link to why Bayer believe AI can inprove results from scans, the potential savings from hospitals getting more right first time are huge.
https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/rg.2018180021
Looks like a good move to me, Bayer are clearly serious about their new platform.....
"Berlin, June 28, 2022 – Bayer today announced the launch of Calantic™ Digital Solutions, a new platform delivering access to digital applications, including artificial intelligence (AI) enabled programs for medical imaging. The offering contains tools which aid radiologists and their teams to improve prioritization, lesion detection, quantification, and productivity. By providing access to AI radiology applications through the Calantic Digital Solutions platform Bayer will expand its comprehensive portfolio beyond contrast media, medical devices, software and services. The new platform will support healthcare professionals at all stages of their work, from diagnosis through treatment of their patients.
“AI has the potential to transform healthcare, and particularly in medical imaging it can turn the growing amounts of data into value-adding insights to support radiologists and their teams in their decision-making”, said Dr. Ryan Lee, Chair, Department of Radiology, Einstein Healthcare Network, Philadelphia, USA. “It is crucial to drive innovation in this area and broaden access to digital tools that can help address the rising demand for solutions which improve the speed and accuracy of diagnoses.”
https://media.bayer.com/baynews/baynews.nsf/id/D055631A9FF42F66C125886F00257D6F?open&ref=irrefndcd
I think there are probably lots of shareholders that have had a dabble here and have not made enough to keep them interested, some have probably lost money and if they look at SCLP today will probably think "same old same old" those who have stuck it out , perhaps because they liked the science, have probably invested just about as much as they are comfortable with and are only buying when there is an expectation of Data or similar, so the SP bounces around in the doldrums.
Meanwhile there are still 250,000 people getting Cancer each year at a cost to the country of an estimated £18.3Bn, that's £73k per person on average including nearly £2Bn in treatment costs and even then over 50% die.
My back of the envelope numbers are pretty simple (as am I, so probably setting myself up for people to shoot me down) ... Moditope is going for an initial 4 cancers which are hard to treat and hence expensive and deadly, maybe each cancer type has 8,000-13000 potential patients and lets say the Moditope costs £15k per course of treatment (The list price for each indicated dose of KEYTRUDA when given every 3 weeks is $10,474.08. The list price for each indicated dose of KEYTRUDA when given every 6 weeks is $20,948.16. (https://www.keytruda.com/financial-support/)).
The above could be an annual £480m in revenue, take out 50% in costs gives £240m in Net profit. Then Add in a Price/ Earnings ratio of 10 (half the current industry rate) and you arrive at £2.94p per share.
12,400 new head and neck cancer cases in the UK every year
8,000 cases TNBC diagnosed every year in the UK
7,500 new ovarian cancer cases in the UK every year
13,300 new kidney cancer cases in the UK every year
You can play with the numbers but these are UK only figures and we know there are targets for SCIB , Mabs etc If anyone wants to buy us out, they had better have deep pockets! BTW When Gilead bought Kite Pharma for almost $12 billion. At the time of the deal, Kite had over $600 million in accumulated deficit, but it also had a pipeline of CAR-T cell therapies, which treat cancer.......Tick Tock...
I think this share is actually being de-risked as each day goes by, SCIB we know works historically and is now improved, there is no bad news from South Africa, Modi is in the clinic too, Covidity may have missed the peak opportunity but equally may validate Avidimab, and we know there have been offers for Mabs turned down, something a Board desperate for cash would not have done.
We have been waiting for ages to really break out but the science keeps building and the value will follow.
Do I regret not having more commercial nous on the board? In the past, yes. Do we currently have enough with Vulpes and Redmile? Probably, they didn't invest here to get pennies back! The Board know what the science is worth, we can only guess but we can all agree its much more than the current SP suggests. Would I be surprised to see a platform or two sold off? No, but I cannot begin to imagine the value if Moditope works... Its a gamble, shares always are, but I think , finally, we are on the runway, engines are running and we are now just 1 RNS from brakes off, power on. takeoff.
At what point does Ryan's attitude become malfeasance in a public office? Deliberately not making a decision for personal political gain is not Governance. he needs to be called out in the Irish Parliament and Press. I have no doubt that the Irish people will be interested to know that the Greens are deliberately setting the stage for gas shortages next winter and into the future by a process of simply refusing to make a simple decision. Either say NO and carry the can for the consequences or say YES and maybe upset the Green Lobby? I hate politicians!
Simple answer.. worst are all Northern Hemisphere, best all Southern. Massive differences in Vitamin D levels in the general population of the 2 hemispheres. Multiple Sclerosis incidence would give a similar geographic footprint as would many other diseases.
"Many studies have demonstrated that Vitamin D has multiple effects on biological processes regulating calcium and phosphorus metabolism as well as effects on cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, immune regulation, genome stability, and neurogenesis. Recent studies have also found that Vitamin D is closely associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and others [1, 2]. Many experts now believe that Vitamin D (especially with biological activities of 1, 25(OH)2D3) should be considered a hormone rather than one of the conventional nutritional vitamins."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440113/
I think the conversations about selling the Mabs have thrown up a bigger opportunity. By saving a prospective purchaser from having to do more work, Lindy has decided its easier for Scancell to develop the Rolls Royce Cullinan of Mabs rather than selling just engines and maybe adding a couple of zeros on the price. Or, perhaps noone wanted to pay what LD felt they were worth and she has decided to complete the job and take them all the way through the clinic in the belief that major financing is on the horizon and there is no rush to do a poor deal. She know, and is keeping her cards face down......meanwhile the value in the company just keeps going up.