BioNxt Solutions, Bayer, BioNTech - These pharma stocks offer growth potential

BioNxt Solutions - Launches comparative trial in Parkinson's therapy

The week started with a touching birthday video of Bruce Willis surrounded by his family, posted by his ex-wife Demi Moore on Instagram. The actor suffers from a specific form of dementia disease that causes symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease rollingstone.de/frontotemporale-demenz-das-ist-die-krankheit-an-der-bruce-willis-leidet-2556499.

Parkinson's disease represents a gradual deterioration of the brain, manifested by motor signs such as slowed movements, tremors and balance problems when walking, as well as other complications such as memory loss, pain and muscle weakness. Motor disorders such as uncontrolled tremors negatively impact speech and mobility and immensely affect the quality of life of those affected. Another example of this insidious disease is the affected actor Michael J. Fox, known from the movie "Back to the Future."

The therapeutic market for Parkinson's disease comprises more than 10 million people worldwide and is growing steadily. The increasing worsening of symptoms and complications leads to a significant reduction in the quality of life of those affected by Parkinson's disease. Many need care, which is an enormous burden for both sufferers and caregivers. This makes it all the more valuable to have an easy-to-use and well-tolerated medication that brings great relief to both sides. A patch impregnated with the active ingredient rotigotine provides an improvement in therapy. The patch is applied to the patient's skin and can thus ensure a 24-hour supply of the active ingredient. The patch, launched by manufacturer TDS in 2007, generated revenues of EUR 348.3 million in 2021 via independent sales.

BioNxt Solutions Inc. is a biotech accelerator company focused on developing next-generation drug formulations and drug delivery systems, diagnostic screening, and the production and evaluation of new pharmaceutical compounds. Now, BioNxt will enhance the existing patch and make it scalable through related TDS drug products along the customer journey of Parkinson's patient's thanks to its in-house platform technology. To this end, the biotech company is launching a comparative study.

The global transdermal skin patch market was valued at nearly EUR 6 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach approximately EUR 18.6 billion by 2028. BioNxt's transdermal patch is thus a promising product in a growing market. The Company has now started manufacturing clinical samples for the study planned for the early second quarter of 2023.

Bayer: Subsidiary researches Parkinson's disease with sensor data

Bayer subsidiary BlueRock Therapeutics is also getting started with a new study to research Parkinson's disease. To this end, the Company is cooperating with Rune Labs, which specializes in sensor monitoring. Due to the numerous ailments, the multi-layered Parkinson's disease provides biotech and pharmaceutical companies, in particular, the opportunity to develop further drug products and therapies that are a perfect fit.

"Parkinson's disease is an incredibly complex condition, with symptoms often varying from hour to hour throughout the day," said Seth Ettenberg, president and CEO of BlueRock Therapeutics. "New tools and approaches are needed to reduce the reporting burden of patients in trials and to measure and assess disease progression more effectively."

The biopharma company will partner with Rune Labs to use the StrivePD tool, which was developed for the Apple Watch and enables data collection and remote monitoring. This uses Apple's Movement Disorder API to capture tremor movements. The FDA-approved app allows patients to document their medication, side effects and other symptoms.

Bayer faces a leadership change in just a few weeks. Werner Baumann will be succeeded by Bill Anderson. But there is no peace: Critical voices from investors are increasing against the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Norbert Winkeljohann. Winkeljohann holds too many offices, so how intensively he fulfils his Supervisory Board duties is unclear. After the investment company Union Investment, DWS now also expresses concerns about Winkeljohann's numerous posts.

BioNTech - Billion dollar deal in the fight against cancer

BioNTech has expanded its product development in the field of cancer therapies with a new deal. The biotech company has acquired the worldwide rights to a promising cancer immunotherapy from a US company OncoC4 and made an upfront payment of EUR 185.5 million. This move is another milestone in the research and development of innovative cancer therapies. The antibody-based compound ONC-392 aims to enhance immune responses against cancer cells. A Phase I/II study has already generated initial data on the compound's tolerability and efficacy.

BioNTech and OncoC4 believe that their product candidate represents an optimized version of a CTLA-4 blocker. This variant causes fewer adverse effects in healthy tissues, allowing for broader application.

"Although CTLA-4 has been known as a promising target for more than a decade, we believe that its full potential in cancer immunotherapy has not yet been realized," said Prof. Dr Uğur Şahin, CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech. "The data presented by OncoC4 on its ONC-392 antibody indicate a differentiated safety profile and encouraging clinical activity in treating various tumor types. We believe this antibody is a valuable addition to our immuno-oncology portfolio, both as monotherapy and in combination with our personalized immunotherapies."

There is currently a lot of activity in the pharma and biotech sector thanks to groundbreaking new technologies, as evidenced by BioNTech's deal with US-based OncoC4. The down payment of EUR 185.5 million alone shows the confidence BioNTech founder Şahin sees in this cooperation. Bayer subsidiary BlueRock Therapeutics is also focusing on innovative technologies. With the collaboration with Rune Labs, both companies are using remote sensory monitoring in Parkinson's patients to research the symptoms of tremors for new therapy approaches. Meanwhile, BioNxt Solutions is focusing on the improvement and scalability of existing products in the Parkinson's therapy market. With a comparative study, they are testing the further development of a therapy patch, which has already created an established market.