Bayer, Vidac Pharma, Evotec – Enormous potential

Vidac Pharma – Skyrocketing

One of the absolute high-flyers on the market is the London-based biopharmaceutical company Vidac Pharma, which is developing cancer drugs with a revolutionary approach. Their treatments aim to reverse the abnormal metabolism of cancer cells and are thus designed to stop the proliferation of cancer cells.

Since the end of May this year, the innovator, led by one of the founding fathers of the Israeli life sciences industry, Prof. Max Herzberg, has risen a whopping 416% to a new annual high of EUR 0.80. The recent sharp increase in volume was striking. While the average volume on a typical trading day was 30,000 shares, it exploded to almost 750,000 in the last three sessions.

According to analyst firm Sphene Capital, the recent rally is just the beginning of a major upward trend. In their latest study, they issued a "Buy" recommendation with a target price of EUR 4.90 after the publication of recent study results.

Vidac Pharma recently published further positive news after the Company had already presented promising results from its preclinical studies with the active ingredient VDA-1275 for the treatment of solid tumors in the summer. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Vidac Pharma a patent for the mode of action of its oncology and onco-dermatological treatment candidates. This patent protects Vidac's newly developed chemical compounds that specifically detach the hexokinase 2 isozyme from the mitochondrial VDAC pores. The clinical studies conducted to date indicate that these compounds have the potential to effectively inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

Evotec – Bad omens

Evotec, a company active in pharmaceutical research, can only dream of such a stock performance. Since the beginning of the year, the Hamburg-based company has seen a substantial decline of almost 75% to EUR 5.64. Both the charts and analysts are sending somewhat skeptical signals. Deutsche Bank Research reiterated its "Sell" rating and target price of EUR 4.

The reasons for this lie in the expectation that the upcoming quarterly results of the pharmaceutical drug researcher, due on November 6, are likely to be weak. To meet the annual targets, a significantly better final quarter is needed. To achieve this, the expected savings and operational improvements are needed. A drastic signal was sent by the analyst firm Jefferies, which downgraded Evotec shares from USD 8.70 to USD 3.80. The investment recommendation was cut from "Buy" to "Hold".

From a chart perspective, Evotec's shares are approaching their low for the year of EUR 5.06. If this level is broken on a sustained basis, analysts' price targets are likely to be reached more quickly than expected.

Bayer – Downward trend

The chart of the pharmaceutical and agricultural giant Bayer currently looks similarly battered. After an interim rally pushing the stock above the EUR 30 mark at the beginning of October, investors pulled the rip cord again, which is also likely to push the price close to its yearly low of EUR 25 from July.

The reason for the interruption of the bear market rally was the continuing uncertainty regarding the glyphosate litigation. A jury at a state court in Philadelphia awarded a plaintiff, who attributes his cancer to the use of glyphosate-based weed killers, a total of USD 78 million in damages. Bayer intends to appeal the decision.

According to CEO Anderson, Bayer is still making good progress on the corporate restructuring. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, the Company leader said that the restructuring is already at 80 to 90%. This status was not expected until the fall of 2025.

The biotech sector is booming and the Nasdaq Biotech Index is heading for a new all-time high. Vidac Pharma, with its revolutionary cancer therapy, has already gained 400%, but analysts see even significantly higher price targets. Bayer and Evotec, on the other hand, are trading close to their yearly lows, which could spark new downside pressure.