BioNTech, Defence Therapeutics, Valneva, Formycon - Close to the bio-revolution!

BioNTech versus Valneva - Who will oust the top dog from the throne?

BioNTech shares have been a clear stock market star since their introduction in August 2019. The placement price was USD 20 - in the summer, the shares reached over USD 450. That made the Marburg-based Company worth over USD 100 billion. Currently, the share price is coming under some pressure due to profit-taking.

Another reason could be the progress in the development of traditional vaccines. The French-Austrian Company Valneva has recently made a name for itself in this area. Unlike the vaccines from AstraZeneca, BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson, which have been approved in Europe and are vector or mRNA vaccines, Valneva is focusing on developing a dead vaccine in the fight against Covid-19. It is essential Valneva obtains all the approval-relevant data for the Covid-19 vaccine candidate VLA2001 quickly. That would provide the Company with access to many people who have so far declined vaccination with the new, under-researched vaccines.

Regardless of how it turns out, the market for COVID preparations will again be filled with new competitors, which will mean a loss of sales for the current suppliers. The stock market is currently processing these potential declines in BioNTech & Co. Should Valneva deliver verified data and obtain approval, the stock will no longer be at the low EUR 12. Those looking for the next vaccine missile could therefore find what they are looking for in this stock. Conclusion: hold BioNTech with a stop at EUR 185; Valneva is binary speculation on red or black.

Defence Therapeutics - The fight against melanoma enters the next phase

Moving on to Canada, and Defence Therapeutics (DTC) is already one step further! The biotech Company from Vancouver is working intensively on therapeutic methods to fight cancer and vaccines against infectious diseases. It is now in the process of completing all the necessary steps to prepare for a pre-IND meeting to initiate a Phase I trial to fight melanoma using its dendritic cell (DC)-based cancer vaccine candidate AccuVAC-D002.

Defence has successfully leveraged its AccumTM technology platform to develop a comprehensive product pipeline in immuno-oncology and infectious diseases. Its lead products include AccuVAC-D002, a DC cancer vaccine for the treatment of melanoma. The AccumTM technology platform is highly efficient in enhancing intracellular delivery of pharmacologically relevant proteins such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) or vaccine antigens.

Defence's scientific team can currently point to further successes. They have recently identified a novel function for the use of free Accum and its newly developed variants as anti-cancer molecules. Based on the synopsis, DTC is working with a large, established contract research organization in the US to determine the physical location for the important Phase I melanoma trial. For two DC cancer vaccines (AccuVAC-D001 and -D002) currently manufactured in clean rooms, Defence is likely to initiate its Phase I trials in the first or second quarter of 2022.

According to a Fortune Business Insights report, the skin cancer treatment market is expected to reach USD 14.6 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5%. Defence Therapeutics is active at the forefront and is moving forward innovatively. With each milestone, DTC stock will set off more fireworks. For the large pipeline, the market cap of CAD 228 million is still manageable.

Formycon - The next step for FYB201 is done

Formycon is also able to make further progress. Together with Bioeq, they announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the marketing authorization application for the first drug FYB201, a biosimilar candidate for Lucentis. After 6 years of research, this is now the first submission for the Munich-based biotech Company. Partner Bioeq is a Swiss biopharmaceutical joint venture between Strüngmann Group and Polpharma Biologics Group. It develops, licenses and markets biosimilars.

Following approval, FYB201 (or BQ201 and CHS201) will be actively marketed in the US by Coherus BioSciences, a US biosimilar marketer. Formycon participates in product sales via royalties with a fixed margin. The original drug Lucentis is used to treat wet macular degeneration.

Biosimilars are successor products to biopharmaceutical drugs whose market exclusivity has expired. The approval process in highly regulated markets such as the EU, the USA, Japan, Canada and Australia follows strict regulatory requirements. These are geared to the comparability of the biosimilar with the reference product. For 2020, global sales of biosimilars had been expected to reach over USD 15 billion. By 2030, it could rise to more than USD 60 billion, according to analyst estimates. Formycon stock has significant medium-term potential because of its good position in this market. However, because patience is the order of the day in the biotech market, the stock should only be bought when it is weak.

The biotech companies presented here are in the market with different strengths and weaknesses. News comes in every second, which influences the price formation. If you are looking for volatility, you can find many promising stocks here. Defence Therapeutics is of high interest in the field of cancer research and has a multiple-use platform.