Latest news with #Polynovo
News.com.au
13-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Health Check: Polynovo naysayers face the (short) squeeze ahead of ‘significant' news
Investors with a short position in wound care house Polynovo face a nervous wait Oz drug stocks partly recover after swooning yesterday on Trump drug-pricing edict Wellnex Life rediscovers its sales mojo, while Elinixol Wellness goes to the well Spare a thought for the short sellers of PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) – the bourse's eighth most 'shorted' stock – ahead of a potentially groundbreaking announcement tomorrow. Until then Polynovo shares are in trading halt, pending the results of a 'significant collaboration' between the company and the private Adelaide-based entity Beta-Cell Technologies. For some years, Polynovo and Beta-Cell have worked on a novel intracutaneous ectopic pancreas, which would stimulate insulin production for type 1 diabetes sufferers. Polynovo's foam-like material Novosorb BTM (biodegradable temporising matrix) would create a skin-based implant to house donor islet cells. The parties had promised human trial results by late 2024, but none have been announced yet. We can't be sure the announcement pertains to this, but the declaration of a trading halt implies something substantive. Any diabetes treatment advancement would pique the excitement of investors and clincians alike. Beta-Cell Technologies was co-founded by Professor John Greenwood, Polynovo's former medical director and Novosorb developer. In the meantime, Polynovo has been recovering from its corporate governance woes that resulted in the March departure of CEO Swami Raote. This followed claims of bullying and inappropriate levelled against chairman David Williams, which became subject to a third-party board review. Polynovo this month reported record March sales of $11.9 million, up 71%, taking year to date turnover to $84.4 million, up 31%. But back to those short sellers, who account for 10% of Polynovo's register compared with 1.5% at the start of 2025. Shorters are trapped in the stock until tomorrow, when we can expect a short-squeeze stampede as they cover their positions by buying. Polynovo shares have lost 34% of their value over the last year, but they have also gained 31% in the last month. Local biotechs shrug off Trump's war on drugs (pricing) After being hammered yesterday, ASX drug developers potentially exposed to Donald Trump's proclaimed 'most favoured nation' (MFN) policy on drug pricing staged tentative recoveries today. These included Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU), Mesoblast (ASX:MSB), Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CUV) and Botanix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:BOT). Radioimaging plays Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) and Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6) were also under the pump yesterday and duly saluted. In an executive order, the Prez said drug pricing would be referenced to the cost in the lowest-priced countries, with vaunted costs savings of 30% to 80%. We should add that the benchmarks are OECD (developed) countries, not Belize or Botswana (no offence). The only ASX exponent to comment explicitly on the measures so far, Botanix asks a salient question: what if a drug company does not sell outside of the US? In the US Botanix has started marketing its drug Sofdra, for excess underarm sweating (primary axillary hyperhidrosis). The company says it's not privy to the details of the Trump Decree, but notes that Sofdra is only approved in the US – or so far at least. A variant is sold in Japan by Botanix's partner Kaken Pharmaceutical, but it's a different concentration and formulation. 'Based on the limited information currently available … Botanix does not consider that it is likely that it will be subject to price reductions based on sales of Sofdra outside the US, as there are none." In the case of CSL (ASX:CSL), Morgan Stanley notes that plasma products were excluded from MFN last time around. The firm opines that 25% of CSL's revenue may be exposed to MFN pricing. This is because CSL derives half of its revenue from the US, half of that from public payors such as Medicare and Medicaid. While our heavy hitters swooned yesterday, the New York Stock Exchange Arca biotechnology and pharmaceuticals indices soared 3% and 1.5% respectively overnight. Commentary from over the waters suggests this is because past efforts to rein in drug imports have failed, while the measure is open to negotiation. Sound familiar? Wellnex Life shrugs off sales slump House of pharma brands Wellnex Life (ASX:WNX) has shrugged off a slow start to the financial year with a perkier performance for the January to April period. Over this timeline, revenue rose 46% to $8 million, year on year. The gross margin improved 55% to $2.99 million. In the month of April, revenue gained 75% to $2.57 million, with the margin improving 75% to $1.13 million. Wellnex's 'hero' own brands include Nighty Night, an ashwagandha (herb) based sleep aid and the caffeine and guarana-based antidote, Wakey Wakey. Last year the company acquired the 25-year-old Pain Away range of topical pain relief for around $22 million. Management says the problems of stock outages and delays in new products have abated. On March 21 the company listed on London's AIM exchange, after raising $16.5 million. These funds have been used mainly for a $13 million debt demolition. Wellnex shares popped around 15% this morning. Meanwhile, shares in Elixinol Global (ASX:EXL) today entered trading halt, pending a 'potential financing/capital raising arrangement' to be announced on or before May 15. Elixinol runs a suite of cannabis focused human and pet brands, including Healthy Chef, Mt Elephant and Hemp Foods Australia (Byron Bay based, of course). The company had $600,000 of cash at the end of March, so it's time it went to the well.
Business Insider
12-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Polynovo (CALZF) Gets a Buy from Morgans
Morgans analyst Scott Power maintained a Buy rating on Polynovo (CALZF – Research Report) today and set a price target of A$1.69. The company's shares closed last Thursday at $0.94. Protect Your Portfolio Against Market Uncertainty Discover companies with rock-solid fundamentals in TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter. Receive undervalued stocks, resilient to market uncertainty, delivered straight to your inbox. According to TipRanks, Power is ranked #8478 out of 9472 analysts. Polynovo has an analyst consensus of Moderate Buy, with a price target consensus of $1.47. Based on Polynovo 's latest earnings release for the quarter ending December 31, the company reported a quarterly revenue of $59.54 million and a net profit of $3.34 million. In comparison, last year the company earned a revenue of $47.15 million and had a net profit of $2.69 million
