CureVac, Cardiol Therapeutics, Formycon, NanoRepro - Pharma stocks with potential!

Cardiol Therapeutics - Milestones in cardiac research

The causes of cardiovascular disease are manifold and can be divided into influenceable and non-influenceable risk factors. The natural parameters include, for example, age, gender and genetic predisposition. The other influences inevitably result from the determinants of our present-day life, including lack of exercise and an excess of food intake. The resulting negative factors on our health are high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Smoking and regular alcohol consumption is the icing on the cake for this dangerous trend.

The Canadian biotechnology Company Cardiol Therapeutics focuses on researching and developing anti-inflammatory therapies to treat cardiovascular diseases. Its main product is a pharmaceutically produced ultra-pure, highly concentrated cannabidiol oral formulation called CardiolRx™️. The product is being targeted at reducing inflammation and fibrosis in the heart, specifically acute myocarditis and diastolic heart failure.

An unfortunate combination occurs when simple flu-like infections and stress-related factors result in severe heart muscle inflammation because viral infections cause most inflammatory diseases of the heart. However, because many heart conditions do not manifest themselves until late in life, serious symptoms are often underestimated as age-related and ignored. Cardiol Therapeutics wants to set milestones in research here and is already in clinical phase II/III with its studies.

The Company was recently able to raise another CAD 22 million, which means that the current research pipeline is fully financed. If successful, this could lead to a multiplication of the current market capitalization of CAD 130 million.

CureVac - No safety concerns with new CVnCoV vaccine

While several vaccines have now been available for several months, data continues to be collected for the approval of the vaccine from the Tuebingen-based biotech Company CureVac. It is still expected that the data will be available in June so that the rolling approval process with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) can be finalized.

The reason for the long tests is the increasing changes in the currently known forms of the virus. A few months ago, the Coronavirus in its original form was dominant; however, the pandemic is now dominated by the much more dangerous mutations. CureVac's vaccine is thus naturally also being tested for its efficacy against precisely these mutations.

But an initial interim result gives cause for optimism that CureVac will now receive approval in the near future. As the independent DSMB review board has now confirmed, there are no safety concerns about the active ingredient CVnCoV. Only the amount of data is still too small to make significant statements and thus prevents approval by the EMA.

After the sharp rise of 190% in November 2020, the share is currently undergoing a correction. The high from December 2020 at EUR 120 has not yet been reached again. If the share price continues to move sideways, it will soon meet the short-term upward trend from March 2021. If the upward trend breaks, trouble threatens because the share will then head for the support at around EUR 73.

Formycon - High expenditure on research and development

The balance sheet of the Munich-based biotech Company Formycon still includes a lot of money for research and development. For 2020, the Company achieved sales of EUR 34.3 million, compared to EUR 33.2 million the year before. The operating loss increased from EUR 2.3 million to EUR 5.7 million in the process. The bottom line was a loss for the year of EUR 5.9 million, but this is within the Company's target range. Cash and cash equivalents are estimated at more than EUR 49 million.

The Martinsried-based biotech Company is well aware that major advances in the fight against modern diseases do not fall from the sky but involve long testing and development phases. Formycon invested heavily in developing its own pipeline in the 2020 financial year in line with its growth strategy. In addition to the promising COVID-19 drug, FYB207, this primarily involved advancing the as yet unpublished and unpartnered biosimilar candidate FYB206.

In vitro neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants by FYB207 shows that the drug is even more potent against the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, which is considered to be particularly infectious, than against earlier variants. That is excellent news in the fight against the pandemic. The Formycon share has gone through a long consolidation at the EUR 60 mark. The price behavior of the last few days looks as if a new breakout is now imminent. The previous high of EUR 79.8 dates back to February 2021.

NanoRepro - The air is out for now

NanoRepro AG has made incredible progress since the pandemic emerged. A year ago, the share price was still between EUR 1 and EUR 3; in the meantime, the price hyped up to EUR 22.4. The euphoria resulted from large orders for COVID-19 tests that NanoRepro was able to land in quick succession. Initially, demand was so great that the Company could not adjust its logistics quickly enough to the incoming business.

However, the tide has turned in the self-testing market. Currently, supermarkets are dominated by a price drop that is visible to all, and large chains even offer the tests free with your purchase. At the beginning of March, these tests were already out of stock when they were put on the shelves.

Based on previous plans for B2B corona antigen rapid tests and the partnership with Viromed, NanoRepro expects sales of at least EUR 250 million this year but is making this dependent on the pandemic's political situation. The Company is currently working at full speed with a renowned German research institute on developing an antibody test that checks immunity after a Corona vaccination because the conventional antibody test cannot generally provide any information about the success of the vaccination.

In recent interviews, CEO Lisa Jüngst leaves no doubt that the Company will continue to operate just as successfully without Corona. However, the current trend of the share shows a different picture. Strong profit-taking and high turnover pushed the share price down by a further 50% in the last 6 weeks alone, and it is currently already 75% off the top. However, if management's expectations materialize, NanoRepro is far too cheap with a P/E ratio of 2 to 3.