Equity Research Reports & Financial Commentary
BIOTECH/AI
Predictive Oncology: Unique, Valuable Assets and Recent
Capitalization Present a Promising Opportunity in AI-Driven Drug Development
Amidst the growing demand for use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug development and precision medicine, Predictive Oncology
(NASDAQ - POAI: $1.18) is well-positioned to leave its mark in the industry. The contract research services (CRO) industry is currently exhibiting a robust growth rate and is expected to continue to grow at an even faster pace in the future. With, the focus on using its unique assets to enhance the development of drugs for treating cancer with a focus on ovarian cancer, Predictive Oncology is targeting a large, competitive market that could greatly benefit from the increased efficiency, reduced risk, and reduction in costs that AI may offer. A unique database and physical asset of more than 150,000 patient tumor responses, 40,000 FFPE (formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded) blocks and up to 15 years’ worth of patient response data make POAI stand out from its competitors when it comes to leveraging data in precision medicine. We believe that POAI could be significantly undervalued if it succeeds in securing large or multiple drug development contracts, ideally with big pharma.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
INmune Bio’s Alzheimer’s Candidate Is a Potential
Best-In-Class Drug
Alzheimer’s disease represents one of the largest, most prevalent, and economically burdensome diseases in the United States, and many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have nobly attempted to treat the disease but most have completely failed to show significant benefit in clinical trials. The Alzheimer’s drug treatment landscape is a massive graveyard; an estimated 150-300 drugs have failed to show benefit in clinical trials, and most of these drugs have directly or indirectly targeted amyloid proteins—fibrous, extracellular deposits of protein—in the brain that cause neuronal dysfunction. Plaques and tangles as the cause of neuronal dysfunction is a hypothesis that the scientific community has taken as a fact. This becoming fact has stalled progress in AD
treatments for nearly two decades. We believe that the Alzheimer’s field needs to move past the graveyard of failures that are the amyloid beta (AB) hypothesis, and onto another, less pigeon-holed and more broad-based, hypothesis, the hypothesis of inflammation.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Adial Pharmaceuticals Inc. Initiation Report
Adial Pharmaceuticals Inc., is the only company to genetically cater to Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), a large and relatively untapped market. Adial’s lead drug, AD04, has demonstrated efficacy and safety in the initial trials and promises to treat AUD without the need for abstinence and with no withdrawal effects. We believe that if AD04 is approved, it could generate total revenue approaching $1 billion in a relatively short span of time and post high bottom-line. The company will enjoy reaping benefits for a longer period given that it has well-protected sets of patents to maintain its value proposition in the marketplace at least until 2032. The company is also developing drugs in the pain-relieving space which could add more to their value.
E-COMMERCE
Shopify Inc. Analysis
Shopify’s revenue has grown from $205M in 2015 to an estimated $1,556M in 2019, representing a CAGR
of 66%, and its market cap of $55B represents a compound annual growth rate of 112% from its May 2015
IPO. According to Shopify, retail eCommerce sales worldwide were $1.3T in 2014 and are projected to reach
$4.9T in 2021, representing a CAGR of 21%. To put this in perspective relative to global eCommerce
growth, Shopify’s revenue has grown more than 3x and its valuation has grown more than 5x. Since the
Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend alone, SHOP has surged 41% in price.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Athersys’ MultiStem Has Enormous Potential In Trauma Treatment
Athersys is an international regenerative medicine company focusing on therapeutics that have best-in-class potential in areas of high unmet medical needs, especially in the critical care space. In this report, we examine MultiStem and its potential to succeed in treating severe physical trauma, a great unmet medical need, and the leading cause of death of individuals under the age of 45, and the third-largest cause of death in the United States.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Predictive Oncology: Potentially Undervalued Drug
Discovery AI Company
In this article, we highlight the trend in the pharmaceutical industry to use AI during the R&D process to improve investment returns by cutting costs and improving chances of success. A substantial number of drug discovery deals have been made in recent years with deal values ranging from $5 million to over $1 billion, with a skew towards the lower end.