Election winners in the fight against cancer! Bayer, Defence Therapeutics, Formycon, Valneva - 300% rises are possible!

Bayer - The recent change of chief executive fuels break-up fantasies

Bayer is one of Germany's flagship cancer research companies. The central pharmaceutical division is specifically committed to developing precision oncology, as it benefits from significant advances in the field of molecular diagnostics.

Currently, however, there are other price drivers for the share because, after the recent change of chief executive from Werner Baumann to the former pharmaceutical chief of rival Roche, Bill Anderson, the stock market expects a quick overcoming of the glyphosate trauma with simultaneous fantasy to disentangle the diversified group accordingly. Markus Manns, portfolio manager at fund company Union Investment, thinks Anderson is an excellent choice. "This could be the liberating blow investors have long been waiting for." The new manager has an extensive network in the US and the necessary know-how to position Bayer more innovatively and free it from old burdens.

The confidence in a successful outcome is high. The stock recently shot up like a rocket from EUR 56 to over EUR 62. It is currently consolidating moderately at EUR 59.5. Investors are also eagerly awaiting the figures for the full year 2022, which will be published on February 28. Bayer shares are relatively inexpensive, with an estimated 2023 P/E of 8.1 and a 4.0% dividend yield.

Defence Therapeutics - With AccumTM technology about to enter Phase I clinical trials

What a rally by the Canadians! The biotech specialist Defence Therapeutics (DTC) is leading the rally in the entire biotech sector with a price increase of over 300%. Recently, there was only positive news. With its AccumTM platform, Defence has developed a patented technology that offers great hope in current cancer research. The combination of mRNA technology with modern delivery methods to affected cells is a real advance within recent research.

Now, surprisingly, the start of manufacturing of the new ARM vaccine in preparation for Phase I clinical trials in patients with solid cancer tumors has been announced. Defence is looking to leverage its promising AccumTM technology across many verticals. As recently demonstrated, AccumTM enhances the accumulation of biomedical agents in target cells. At the same time, the AccumTM molecule is modified to behave like an anticancer drug. The recent discovery by the Defence team is to reprogram mesenchymal stromal cells, which are naturally immunosuppressive, into antigen-presenting cells that can trigger strong immune responses against cancer. The findings have now led to the development of the new ARM vaccine. Sounds revolutionary in itself!

"The production of our ARM vaccine in preparation for the Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of solid cancer tumors represents a double success: These are the use of a novel type of stem cell, which has never been used in the development of a cancer vaccine, combined with a new feature we discovered for our AccumTM platform technology," said CEO and President Sebastien Plouffe. In collaboration with Allucent, Defence is currently preparing its application to Health Canada to initiate a Phase I clinical trial in 2023. It still requires some dosing and administration schedules to be established and validated to meet GMP and GLP standards. Completing the test runs with all the necessary quality control steps is expected by mid-spring.

The stock currently continues to run like clockwork. It has resumed its upward trajectory after a 20% correction and is trading actively in Germany and Canada. With a current market capitalization of EUR 102 million, the stock still has blockbuster potential! At tomorrow's 6th International Investment Forum (IIF), Dr Moutih Rafei will provide deeper insights into the current state of research.

Formycon and Valneva - Is the upward breakout coming now?

Munich-based biosimilar specialist Formycon has raised new funds of approximately EUR 70 million from institutional investors at prices of EUR 77 to further advance the development of its drug portfolio. In addition, the Company has secured Fresenius Kabi as a global marketing partner for the finished product FYB202 on significantly better terms than its predecessors, FYB201 and FYB203. The research house Alster Research sees this as a blueprint for the future commercialization of other Formycon product lines, and it is another noticeable step towards the internalization of the Company. The appointment of former Evotec Management Board member Enno Spillner as the new CFO should also provide momentum in the medium term. The Hamburg-based equity experts now see potential for their buy recommendation up to EUR 125; the stock is currently trading at EUR 79. From a chart perspective, the minor setback from EUR 94 to around EUR 77 represents a suitable consolidation. If the base of EUR 70 holds, the share could become one of the shooting stars in 2023.

Valneva has yet to recover much from its sell-off level of around EUR 6. The share was one of the big losers in 2022, with a drop of 60%. The latest news on a potential COVID booster does not seem to excite investors, and the topic no longer attracts new investors. However, the FDA filing on chikungunya vaccine candidate VLA1553 for people 18 and older could be interesting, as the Company recently reported positive data from its Phase III program. Chikungunya poses a major public health threat because it is transmitted by infected mosquitoes that spread widely locally. There is currently no vaccine or specific treatment for the disease. Nevertheless, there is no reason to buy Valneva shares at the moment, as a major refinancing of the lush research pipeline will likely occur in the course of the year. We do not see a short-term breakout, but keep the French-Austrian biotech stock on the watch list.

The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index, NBI, reached its interim low in September 2022 after an extended sell-off in the sector. Cancer stocks, in particular, are now back in focus after overcoming the COVID pandemic. Bayer and Defence Therapeutics appear very promising, and biosimilar expert Formycon should also be able to take off soon.