Aim-traded pharma group Chi-Med (HCM) made strong progress on its oncology pipeline during the first half, having "minimised" the effects of the coronavirus pandemic so far. Indeed, in May, the group submitted a new drug application (NDA) to China’s National Medical Products Association for ‘savolitinib’ as a treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer. It also progressed an NDA submitted last November for ‘surufatinib’ in patients with non-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), as well as submitting a further NDA for the usage of the same drug in pancreatic NETs.
Together with its already-approved drug ‘fruquintinib’, chief executive Christian Hogg notes that Chi-Med now has “three oncology assets to launch into the China market” – offering up “a really solid platform to build out our commercial organisation and our business”. It helps that the group is taking over all sales and marketing activities for fruquintinib in China from partner company Eli Lilly.
But Chi-Med has also set its sights on prospects further afield. And in a sign of advancement on such ambitions, it secured three ‘fast-track designations’ from America’s Food and Drug Administration during the period under review.
Chi-Med’s commercial operations generated sales of $99m (£75.6m) for the respective six months, up by 4 per cent. Revenues were also bolstered by service-fee payments from Eli and AstraZeneca (AZN). At the same time, the group moved deeper into the red as it continued to develop its nine drug candidates.
FactSet consensus estimates put losses per share at 16.3p for 2020, from losses of 12.5p in 2019.
| HUTCHISON CHINA MEDITECH (HCM) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 406p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 2.88bn | |
| TOUCH: | 406-414p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 453p | LOW: 258p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 48¢ | NET CASH*: | $281m* | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
| 2019 | 102 | -68.3 | -7.0 | nil |
| 2020 | 107 | -76.6 | -7.0 | nil |
| % change | +4 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
*Includes short-term investments of $231m £1 = $1.30 | ||||
