With a day off today I thought I’d post some DD on an under-the-radar biotech company that I think has great upside potential:
What is TLC? Taiwan Liposome company is a biotech focused on making lipid-based nanoparticles.
Why TLC? The Science: As a nano-scientist, I can tell you the thing I’m most excited about in terms of nano-innovation in the healthcare space is lipid nanoparticles. Their application is in drug delivery, and this is a HUGE field. One of the main issues pharma companies struggle with when identifying a suitable new drug is that a significant proportion of the drugs are hydrophobic. This means as soon as they enter the body they get cleared by the body’s immune system and never end up reaching their target. Lipid nanoparticles solve this issue by encapsulating the drug in a lipid shell, which has a hydrophobic interior and a hydrophilic interior. They essentially hide the drug from the body’s immune system and are able to shuttle the drug to its destination by whatever targeting moieties are also attached to the surface of the particle. Lipid nanoparticles are behind the delivery of mRNA in both the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Background aside, here are some highlights that make me excited:
- They have a number of drug candidates based on their delivery systems BioSeizer® and NanoX™ in their pipeline in some great growing markets: their current focus is in post-op pain management. Particularly, TLC590 is poised as an alternative SAFE pain-management injection to help curb the opioid crisis. In one of their studies, 58.3% of patients in the TLC590 475mg group remained opioid-free through the entire duration of the study.
- Two of their candidates (TLC599 and TLC590) are releasing top-line data or entering phase III this year. TLC599 could achieve 26% usage in the US as an injectable steroid and will release phase III results in 2H2021.
- TLC has 156 patents worldwide and 87 applications in the pipeline.
Business/financials:
- TLC has a strong management team of 5 with 2 PhDs, an MD and 2 MBAs.
- CMO was the VP and Clinical Head at Pfizer.
- CBO did business development & licensing at Johnson & Johnson and Amgen
- Financials aren't too shabby for an up and combing biotech:
- Their revenue growth has grown enormously over the past 4 years and a whopping 235% from 2018 ($62m) to 2019 ($209m) and is currently sitting around $100m for 2020.
- Their EV value is $188.94m, lower than its market cap of $236m, and its current EV/revenue value is 1.85.
- NT$479.4m more liquid assets than total liabilities.
Analysts' opinions:
- Current consensus is a BUY rating with an average price target of $12.75. It is currently trading at only $5.66.
- Laidlaw set a price target of $16.
Why not TLC? TLC isn’t the only company making lipid-nanoparticles, all the big pharmas are as well as many other smaller companies so there is a lot of competition.
Based on all the above, I think this is on an upward trend and will see great growth potential in 2021+.
TLDR: Micro cap drug delivery company with great upside potential with phase III data on non-opioid pain management drug releasing later this year. Current price of $5.66, average price target of $12.75.
Disclaimers/notes:
- Obviously not a financial advisor
- This is my first post so I apologise in advance for breaking any rules
- I welcome any comments, critiques, suggestions or further due diligence! Always looking to learn and improve so looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts.
Some sources:
- TLC investor deck: https://ir.tlcbio.com/static-files/b5b80555-99c9-45c7-8ff7-592027767f12
- TLC SEC filings: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001722890
- About LNPs in COVID vaccine: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-020-00820-0
- TLC analyst ratings: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TLC/financials?p=TLC
Submitted February 15, 2021 at 07:06PM by dangerbird16 https://ift.tt/3u2B0eU
