Latest news with #Syntara
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Health Check: It's ‘nothing personal' as major US biotech fund calls time on Syntara
San Francisco's BVF Partners has exited all its ASX investments because they are too small for the fund's mandate Alcidion shares soar 15% on earnings upgrade Optiscan enters 'win-win' supplier collab Syntara (ASX:SNT) CEO Gary Phillips says the exit of a long-term US backer should not be seen as a judgment on the company's late-stage myelofibrosis drug program. In a block trade the San Francisco BVF Partners has disposed of its $5 million, 6%, Syntara stake. The shares were taken up by some of Syntara's existing institutional holders. BVF's exit last week sent Syntara shares down by 25%, despite the company's previous Friday's positive update on its phase II myelofibrosis trial update. Phillips says the trial news created a 'liquidity event' which BVF availed of. But it was not a case of BVF (as in Biotech Value Fund) spurning Syntara's drug program. Rather, the fund grew to the extent where it can't justify a minimum investment below US$30-50 million. 'They always liked our science,' Phillips says. 'They have visited our labs and were always encouraged, but they just got bigger and bigger.' With US$9 billion of assets, BVF has called time on all its ASX investments. In May BVF divested its $3 million in Actinogen Medical (ASX:ACW), also via a block trade. The fund had also invested in Opthea (ASX:OPT), but got off before the eye drug developer's' trials went pear shaped. BVF also invested in immune-oncology drug developer Viralytics, famously taken over by Merck for an eyebrow-raising $500 million in 2018. Syntara's blood cancer program looks the goods Syntara's 'liquidly event' stemmed from further data from its phase II myelofibrosis trial, evaluating its drug candidate SNT-5505 in combo with the standard-of-care drug ruxolitinib. The patients had been treated with ruxolitinib, so had symptoms such as enlarged spleen size and blood counts 'indicative of high disease burden'. The results showed eight of 11 evaluable patients (73%) achieved a reduction of more than 50% at 24 weeks, as measured by a standard gauge called TSS50. Four out of nine patients (44%) had a spleen volume reduction of 25% at week 24 or beyond. The ongoing trial enrolled 16 patients with intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis, for 52 weeks of treatment. However, five dropped out by the 24-week mark. This is a 'withdrawal rate consistent with that seen in other myelofibrosis studies of patients with similar disease severity." Eight patients reaching 38 weeks showed and average 56% reduction in symptoms, while five reaching 52 weeks exhibited a 63% decline. Syntara intends to chat with the FDA in the September quarter about the design of a pivotal phase 2c/3 study. Too much of a good thing for Immutep? With four trial updates on separate programs in less than two months, immunology drug play Immutep (ASX:IMM) must also feel underappreciated. Immutep stock has fallen around 10% in this period and trades at close to five-year lows, despite the upbeat clinical vibes. Too much activity from the multi-tentacled Immutep confusing investors, perhaps? Today, Immutep said a phase I autoimmune study showed 'significant T-cell suppression', thus highlighting potential efficacy of its candidate IMP-761. Initial data from placebo-controlled, double-blinded effort also showed good safety at the highest dosing level to date. By stimulating the LAG-3 (lymphocyte-activation gene-3) agonist antibody, IMP-761 promises to treat conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Since May 5 Immutep also has updated investors on its head and neck cancer, lung cancer and soft tissue sarcoma trials. Miya My! Alcidion has upgraded earnings Hospital patient management software supplier Alcidion (ASX:ALC) has upped its full-year earnings outlook, with strong take-up of its flagship Miya prompting clients to adopt its broader wares. 'Over the past few months this has resulted in several customers of varying size seeking extensions or module upgrades," CEO Kate Quirke says. "This has contributed to our improved financial position." Having guided to earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation of $3 million, the company now expects the number to exceed $4.5 million (for the year to June 30 2025). The company earlier guided to revenue of at least $40 million. Alcidion provides to more than 400 hospitals and 87 healthcare organisations in the UK, here and New Zealand. In the UK, the most capacious market, the beloved National Health Service (NHS) is being merged with Department of Health and Social Care. This poses both threat to – and opportunities for – Alcidion, given it sells to NHS organisations. In April, Quirke said the push for more NHS productivity with fewer staff was likely to mean greater demand for Alcidion's digital platforms. 'I see the opportunity increasing,' she said. 'But we are waiting to see what the ten-year plan indicates in terms of where the priority areas are.' PYC gets FDA OK PYC Therapeutics (ASX:PYC) has provided evidence that the FDA continues to function, with the agency approving the company's proposed trial design at a preliminary (Type B) meeting. The company currently is undergoing a phase 1-2 trial of its drug candidate VP-001, to treat the blinding eye disease retinitis pigmentosa type 11 (RP11). With positive data to date, PYC wants to progress to a phase2/3 study pitched at FDA approval. The FDA says PYC can use similar endpoints and says trial design features (such as use of a sham arm and inclusion exclusion criteria) are OK as well. The company will use this guidance to finalise its proposed registrational study design. Tryptamine study aims to put binge eating disorder to BED Meanwhile, Tryptamine Therapeutics (ASX:TYP) has won ethics approval for the world's first trial, to test intravenously infused psilocin for binge eating disorder (BED). BED is the most common eating disorder in the US and second most common here. BED results in multiple other conditions including depression, anxiety, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and compulsive behaviours. A collaboration with Swinburne University, the local trial will enrol 12 patients and administer them with with Tryptamine's drug candite TRP-8803. They will be given two doses 14 days apart and also undergo psychotherapy. The trial has started recruiting, with first dosing expected in the September quarter. Investors can expect top-line results before the year is out. The good OIL on a 'win-win' collab Optiscan (ASX:OIL) has entered a five-year collaboration agreement with the US based Long Grove Pharmaceuticals, which provides a contrast agent for Optiscan's fluorescence-based endomicroscopic imaging systems. The idea of the collab is to use Long Grove's fluorescein drug, AK-FLUOR, with Optiscan's imaging technology in clinical studies. This potentially will identify new applications for the drug and expedite regulatory submissions. On the Optiscan side of things, the data should support the company' efforts to win FDA approval for its Invue device. Invue enables surgeons to gain real-time pathology insights and make on-the-spot decisions. Optiscan CEO Dr Camile Farah dubs the agreement a 'clear-cut win-win for both companies' development strategies'.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
We Think Syntara (ASX:SNT) Needs To Drive Business Growth Carefully
There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. By way of example, Syntara (ASX:SNT) has seen its share price rise 240% over the last year, delighting many shareholders. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse. Given its strong share price performance, we think it's worthwhile for Syntara shareholders to consider whether its cash burn is concerning. For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn. We've discovered 4 warning signs about Syntara. View them for free. A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. As at December 2024, Syntara had cash of AU$18m and such minimal debt that we can ignore it for the purposes of this analysis. In the last year, its cash burn was AU$14m. That means it had a cash runway of around 16 months as of December 2024. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time. See our latest analysis for Syntara Although Syntara reported revenue of AU$8.2m last year, it didn't actually have any revenue from operations. To us, that makes it a pre-revenue company, so we'll look to its cash burn trajectory as an assessment of its cash burn situation. With the cash burn rate up 22% in the last year, it seems that the company is ratcheting up investment in the business over time. However, the company's true cash runway will therefore be shorter than suggested above, if spending continues to increase. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years. While Syntara does have a solid cash runway, its cash burn trajectory may have some shareholders thinking ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations. Syntara has a market capitalisation of AU$83m and burnt through AU$14m last year, which is 16% of the company's market value. As a result, we'd venture that the company could raise more cash for growth without much trouble, albeit at the cost of some dilution. On this analysis of Syntara's cash burn, we think its cash burn relative to its market cap was reassuring, while its increasing cash burn has us a bit worried. Even though we don't think it has a problem with its cash burn, the analysis we've done in this article does suggest that shareholders should give some careful thought to the potential cost of raising more money in the future. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 4 warning signs for Syntara (2 are potentially serious!) that you should be aware of before investing here. If you would prefer to check out another company with better fundamentals, then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt or this list of stocks which are all forecast to grow. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sign in to access your portfolio
