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Last close As at 02/06/2023
SEK4.68
▲ 0.06 (1.30%)
Market capitalisation
SEK782m
Research: Healthcare
Cantargia continues to progress its main R&D programme, a Phase I/IIa CANFOUR trial with its lead drug candidate, which was given its official generic name nidanilimab (CAN04 previously) in June. Cantargia reported no concerning side effects from the first 15 patients in the Phase I part of the CANFOUR trial. As the maximum tolerated dose has not been reached, this part will enrol several more patients, although Phase IIa should still start in Q418, as planned. Our valuation is slightly higher at SEK1.79bn or SEK27.1/share.
Written by
Dr Jonas Peciulis
Cantargia |
Phase IIa set to start in Q418 |
Q218 company update |
Pharma & biotech |
13 September 2018 |
Share price performance
Business description
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Cantargia is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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Cantargia continues to progress its main R&D programme, a Phase I/IIa CANFOUR trial with its lead drug candidate, which was given its official generic name nidanilimab (CAN04 previously) in June. Cantargia reported no concerning side effects from the first 15 patients in the Phase I part of the CANFOUR trial. As the maximum tolerated dose has not been reached, this part will enrol several more patients, although Phase IIa should still start in Q418, as planned. Our valuation is slightly higher at SEK1.79bn or SEK27.1/share.
Year end |
Revenue (SEKm) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/16 |
0.0 |
(47.5) |
(2.72) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/17 |
0.0 |
(60.3) |
(1.86) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/18e |
0.0 |
(83.3) |
(1.47) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/19e |
0.0 |
(93.5) |
(1.41) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
Phase IIa likely to start in Q418 as planned
Nidanilimab is a fully humanised, dual-action IgG1 antibody that targets IL1RAP and also has an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) effect. In August 2018, Cantargia reported progress with its lead programme Phase I/IIa CANFOUR trial which tested nidanilimab in patients with various solid cancers (non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer or triple negative breast). The announcement focused on the Phase I part of the trial, which is a typical 3x3 dose escalation used to establish safety and the recommended dose for Phase IIa. In total 15 patients have been enrolled and in general, nidanilimab was well tolerated. As of the announcement date, the maximum tolerated dose has not been reached. Therefore, Cantargia will enrol several more patients before continuing to Phase IIa in Q418, as expected.
CANFOUR results early 2020
In the near term Cantargia will focus on the Phase IIa part of the trial and will look at the efficacy of nidanilimab in NSCLC and pancreatic cancer specifically. It will include three arms which, in total, will recruit around 60-80 patients. Nidanilimab will be tested as a monotherapy or in combination with standard of care therapies for respective cancers (Exhibit 2): in NSCLC with cisplatin/gemcitabine in patients not previously treated with chemotherapy and in pancreatic cancer with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. The recruitment to Phase IIa will take 12 months with results potentially available in early 2020. In the case of a positive data readout, Cantargia is open to various pathways for further development including an out-licensing deal.
Valuation: SEK1.79bn or SEK27.1/share
We value Cantargia at SEK1.79bn (SEK213m in cash) or SEK27.1/share, slightly higher than our previous SEK1.64bn or SEK24.8/share, mainly due to rolling our model forward and a positive forex effect. We make no changes to our assumptions. The near-term catalyst is the final safety results from the Phase I part of the CANFOUR trial in Q418.
Phase I/IIa CANFOUR design
Exhibit 1: Phase I/IIa CANFOUR design, total n=65
Trial |
Stage |
Trial status, design and upcoming events |
Phase I |
■ Study ongoing (started September 2017) ■ Patients with relapsed or refractory NSCLC, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer or colorectal cancer ■ Design – open label, non-randomised, dose escalation followed by dose expansion, safety and tolerability study. Dose escalation: patients receiving intravenous nidanilimab once weekly in cohorts of three ■ Well tolerated by the first 15 patients; final safety findings in Q418 |
|
Phase IIa |
■ Patients with advanced NSCLC or pancreatic cancer ■ Design – open label, non-randomised, three treatment arms: monotherapy; combinations in NSCLC and pancreatic cancer ■ Results early 2020 ■ Primary endpoint – treatment related AEs (safety and tolerability) ■ Secondary endpoints – pharmacokinetic parameters, preliminary signs of efficacy as assessed by tumour response ■ Study sites in EU |
Source: Edison Investment Research, Cantargia, clinicaltrials.gov. Note: AEs = adverse events; MTD = maximum tolerated dose.
|
Exhibit 2: Phase I/IIa |
|
|
Source: Cantargia year-end report 2017 |
Novartis’s canakinumab in three Phase III trials
The patients in the Phase IIa CANFOUR trial will be relapsed or refractory, so presenting with an advanced disease. When it comes to clinical setting, it is premature to envision the precise positioning, but due to its differentiated mode of action from other therapies in oncology, nidanilimab has the potential to be used in various combinations and across different stages of the disease (as long as IL-1RAP is sufficiently expressed). This is supported by Cantargia’s newly released findings (June 2018) that provided a preclinical proof-of-concept for the combination with cisplatin. In an animal model, nidanilimab and cisplatin led to a stronger antitumor effect than a monotherapy using either of the drugs. In addition, the side effects in the combination group were less pronounced than the cisplatin-alone group.
A guide on how wide nidanilimab’s application could be recently came from Novartis. As we described in detail in our initiation report, Novartis conducted a large, six-year Phase III trial CANTOS (n=10,062) with canakinumab to establish the role of IL-1β inhibition in atherosclerosis in patients who had a history of myocardial infarction. While this is an unrelated area for nidanilimab, additional analysis by Novartis revealed that IL-1β inhibition had an effect on cancer incidence in these patients. Compared with the placebo arm, canakinumab reduced lung cancer mortality by 77% and reduced lung cancer incidence by 67%. Since canakinumab targets IL-1β, it acts upstream to nidanilimab and does not affect IL-1α. Therefore it does not completely abolish IL-1 pathway signalling like nidanilimab does. Theoretically, nidanilimab could have a more robust effect.
Following these findings, Novartis initiated three new Phase III trials. The most recent updates on clinicaltrials.gov show that Novartis will focus on NSCLC patients starting as early as a neo-adjuvant therapy (NCT03447769, n=1,500), to combination with first-line (NCT03631199, n=627) and second-line treatments (NCT03626545, n=240). This shows Novartis’s confidence in immediately going for as broad label as possible, in our view. The completion of these trials is estimated in 2021-22.
Financials and valuation
Cantargia’s results were largely in line with our expectations. The company reported an operating loss of SEK43.8m in H218, compared to SEK34.3m in H117. The increase was mainly due to higher R&D activities as the CANFOUR trial accelerates, but also due to higher other external expenses (SEK8.6m vs SEK3.2m a year ago). The latter was a consequence of the uplisting process (in July Cantargia was approved to uplist to Nasdaq Stockholm First North Premier). We already expected increasing R&D costs as the trial progresses to Phase IIa, therefore we make no changes to our R&D estimate and we treat the uplisting costs as a one off. Our operating loss estimates for 2018 and 2019 are SEK85.9m (vs SEK80.9m) and SEK93.8m (unchanged) respectively. Cantargia had cash and short-term investments of SEK213m at the end of Q218. According to the company, the operations are now financed until 2020, which is in line with our model.
We value Cantargia based on a risk-adjusted NPV using a 12.5% discount rate, including net cash at end-Q218, which results in a value of SEK1.79bn or SEK27.1/share, slightly higher compared to SEK1.64bn or SEK24.8/share previously, mainly due to rolling our model forward and positive forex effect. We make no changes to our assumptions, which were described in detail in our recent initiation report.
Exhibit 3: Sum-of-the-parts Cantargia valuation
Product |
Launch |
Peak sales |
Unrisked NPV (SEKm) |
Unrisked NPV/share (SEK) |
Technology probability (%) |
rNPV |
rNPV/share (SEK) |
CAN04 - NSCLC |
2026 |
3,144 |
5,689.1 |
86.0 |
10% |
647.4 |
9.8 |
CAN04 - pancreatic cancer |
2024 |
2,132 |
5,753.5 |
86.9 |
10% |
930.5 |
14.1 |
Net cash at end-Q218 |
212.8 |
3.2 |
100% |
212.8 |
3.2 |
||
Valuation |
11,655.4 |
176.1 |
|
1,790.7 |
27.1 |
||
Source: Edison Investment Research. Note: WACC = 12.5% for product valuations.
Exhibit 4: Financial summary
SEK'000s |
2016 |
2017 |
2018e |
2019e |
||
December |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
PROFIT & LOSS |
||||||
Revenue |
|
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Cost of Sales |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Gross Profit |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Research and development |
(35,493) |
(44,819) |
(65,219) |
(77,699) |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
(47,557) |
(60,010) |
(85,845) |
(93,815) |
Operating Profit (before amort. and except.) |
|
|
(47,557) |
(60,010) |
(85,845) |
(93,815) |
Intangible Amortisation |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Exceptionals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Operating Profit |
(47,557) |
(60,010) |
(85,845) |
(93,815) |
||
Net Interest |
67 |
(243) |
2,500 |
360 |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
(47,490) |
(60,253) |
(83,345) |
(93,455) |
Profit Before Tax (reported) |
|
|
(47,490) |
(60,253) |
(83,345) |
(93,455) |
Tax |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
(47,490) |
(60,253) |
(83,345) |
(93,455) |
||
Profit After Tax (reported) |
(47,490) |
(60,253) |
(83,345) |
(93,455) |
||
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
17.5 |
32.4 |
56.6 |
66.2 |
||
EPS - normalised (SEK) |
|
|
(2.72) |
(1.86) |
(1.47) |
(1.41) |
EPS - normalised fully diluted (SEK) |
|
|
(2.72) |
(1.86) |
(1.47) |
(1.41) |
EPS - reported (SEK) |
|
|
(2.72) |
(1.86) |
(1.47) |
(1.41) |
Dividend per share (SEK) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Gross Margin (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
Operating Margin (before GW and except.) (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
2,662 |
2,957 |
2,957 |
2,957 |
Intangible Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Tangible Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Investments |
2,662 |
2,957 |
2,957 |
2,957 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
35,636 |
271,126 |
173,196 |
79,741 |
Stocks |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Debtors |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Cash |
25,904 |
149,781 |
61,496 |
78,041 |
||
Other |
9,732 |
121,345* |
111,700* |
1,700 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(9,494) |
(27,957) |
(14,600) |
(14,600) |
Creditors |
(9,494) |
(27,957) |
(14,600) |
(14,600) |
||
Short term borrowings |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Long term borrowings |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other long term liabilities |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
28,804 |
246,126 |
161,553 |
68,098 |
CASH FLOW |
||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
(42,405) |
(40,860) |
(100,787) |
(93,815) |
Net Interest |
67 |
(243) |
2,500 |
360 |
||
Tax |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Capex |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Financing |
56,225 |
304,479 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other |
2,376 |
(139,499) |
10,002 |
110,000 |
||
Dividends |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Net Cash Flow |
16,263 |
123,877 |
(88,285) |
16,545 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(9,641) |
(25,904) |
(149,781) |
(61,496) |
HP finance leases initiated |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
(0) |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(25,904) |
(149,781) |
(61,496) |
(78,041) |
Source: Cantargia’s accounts, Edison Investment Research. Note: *Mainly short-term investments.
|
|
Research: Healthcare
In early September, Oncology Venture AB and Medical Prognosis Institute (MPI) completed their strategic merger and the new entity, Oncology Venture A/S (OV), now trades on the NASDAQ First North Stockholm. Recently, OV’s three highest priority programmes all demonstrated progress. OV reported interim data from the LiPlaCis trial and is increasing enrolment, whereas 2X-121 received an IND from the US FDA in ovarian cancer. Furthermore, OV has a 55% stake in dovitinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that was in-licensed from Novartis.
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