Basilea Pharmaceutica — Zevtera hits the shelves in the US

Basilea Pharmaceutica (SIX: BSLN)

Last close As at 20/05/2025

CHF44.75

0.25 (0.56%)

Market capitalisation

CHF590m

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Research: Healthcare

Basilea Pharmaceutica — Zevtera hits the shelves in the US

Basilea Pharmaceutica has announced the launch of Zevtera, its lead anti-bacterial treatment, in the US by partner Innoviva Specialty Therapeutics (IST), marking a key strategic milestone for the company. Zevtera, an advanced generation IV cephalosporin antibiotic, was approved by the FDA in April 2024 for three separate indications, including the highly aggressive Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream (SAB) infection. IST was signed as the US licensing partner in December on attractive deal terms, including an upfront payment of US$4m, up to US$223m in sales-related milestone payments as well as tiered royalties (high-teens to mid-20s percent of sales). The US is the most important market for Zevtera, accounting for c 85% of the drug’s commercial opportunity, and we expect this launch to boost top-line performance over the coming years. Zevtera holds 10-year market exclusivity in the US and we project peak sales potential of c US$300m in SAB infections in the US.

Jyoti Prakash

Written by

Jyoti Prakash, CFA

Director, healthcare

Healthcare

Commercial update

21 May 2025

Price CHF44.50
Market cap CHF583m

US$1.20/CHF

Net cash/(debt) at 31 December 2024

CHF28.6m

Shares in issue

13.2m
Code BSLN
Primary exchange SWX
Secondary exchange N/A
Price Performance

Business description

Basilea Pharmaceutica is focused on treating infectious diseases. Its marketed products are Cresemba (an antifungal) and Zevtera (an anti-MRSA broad-spectrum antibiotic). In late 2023, it expanded its clinical pipeline to include two antifungals, the Phase III novel broad-spectrum antifungal treatment fosmanogepix (first Phase III trial commenced in September 2024) and Phase II asset BAL2062. In January 2024, Basilea acquired the preclinical LptA inhibitor antibiotics programme from Spexis and BAL2420 has recently been selected as the clinical candidate.

Analysts

Jyoti Prakash, CFA
+44 (0)20 3077 5700
Arron Aatkar, PhD
+44 (0)20 3077 5700

Basilea Pharmaceutica is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited

Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.

Year end Revenue (CHFm) PBT (CHFm) EPS (CHF) DPS (CHF) P/E (x) Yield (%)
12/22 147.8 12.3 1.04 0.00 42.7 N/A
12/23 157.6 10.8 0.90 0.00 49.6 N/A
12/24 208.5 60.6 6.44 0.00 6.9 N/A

Zevtera is Basilea’s second product to be launched in the US, after Cresemba (broad-spectrum azole antifungal), the current market-leading antifungal. Zevtera is an advanced generation cephalosporin antibiotic and has been approved by the FDA for three indications: SAB (including right-sided infective endocarditis in adult patients); acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections in adult patients; and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) in adult and paediatric patients. The drug is active against both methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant strains (MRSA) of S. aureus. Note that MRSA accounts for c 50% of all SAB infections (c 120,000 cases in the US annually) and represents an ongoing medical challenge with a mortality rate of 20–50%. Zevtera will be the third drug approved for SAB when MRSA is involved in the US (and the only cephalosporin) following vancomycin and daptomycin, after showing similar efficacy to the comparators in Phase III studies. Note that Zevtera is the first MRSA antibiotic to be approved in SAB in more than a decade (the last one was daptomycin).

While Zevtera has already been launched in selected countries in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa and Canada for hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and CABP, the US represents the largest commercial opportunity for the drug (c 85% of the market potential). Another key market is China (c 10% of Zevtera’s commercial opportunity), where the drug was included in the National Reimbursement Drug List in December 2024, making it eligible for reimbursement under the Chinese national basic medical insurance programme from 2025. We believe both these developments may help fully unlock the value for Zevtera, with increased top-line traction expected in the coming years. We also view IST as a logical partner to advance Zevtera in the US, given its established hospital sales force and core capabilities in the commercialisation of anti-infective products. Other anti-infectives in IST’s portfolio include Xerava (for treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections) and Xacduro (for treatment of hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia)

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