Imugene in many ways is a life-changing company. This immuno-oncology company is developing a range of new treatments that seek to activate the immune system of cancer patients to identify and eradicate tumors. And with the Imugene share price up over 1000% this year, what’s not to love? Here’s our Imugene Analysis.
About Imugene ASX
Imugene is a cancer treatment research company that seeks to find a universal therapy that is able to target broad cancer types irrespective of their origins. Traditional cancer treatments struggle with ‘universal therapy’ due to the heterogenous nature of tumors.
Imugene hopes to uncover the holy-grail of cancer treatment through its unique Immunotherapy technology which seeks to harness and promote the body’s immune system against cancerous tumors.
Imugene is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing a range of new treatments that seek to activate the immune system of cancer patients to identify and eradicate tumors.
Imugene Share Price
Imugene shares recently reached a 10-year high of 41 cents. Today the Imugene share price is $0.405. The current share price is up 1091% from 1-year, and 3987% over the last 5-years. I just wanted to point out this isn’t an all-time high as reported. As the companies prices after IPO ranged from $1-$3 around 2000-2002.*
*Imugene began as Vos Industries, developer of a new technology for frying food. This company, which made its initial public offering on the ASX in late 1993, was unsuccessful in commercializing the technology. The public company shell was then used from 2002 to list an animal vaccine technology venture, at which time the company took the name Imugene, short for ‘Immune Genetics’. This venture was also unsuccessful. In mid-2012 the company was again restructured, this time to develop a drug delivery technology,[7] however this venture was abandoned at the time of the Biolife Science merger, which was announced on 23 October 2013. Source
Is Imugene a Good Buy: Financials
The group reported a loss for the period ended 31 December 2020 of $6,062,737. This increased loss is largely due to the significant increase in clinical trials and research activities undertaken by the group.
The group’s net assets increased to $63,063,057 compared with $59,806,343 at 30 June 2020, including cash reserves of $32,832,479.
It’s important to note that Imugene is currently pre-revenue and the companies primary source of income is from research grants and investor capital. Being pre-revenue means that traditional accounting-based valuations are pointless.
Being pre-revenue also has additional risks for the business. However, for Imugene shareholders this goes without saying. This isn’t about watching the company grow revenues over time and bring in dividends like CBA. This is about investing in a start-up research company that’s trying to find the holy grail of cancer vaccines, which is obviously a risky but extremely profitable venture if all goes well.
At its current state IMU is well funded to continue research and trials. Although overtime capital raising will likely be necessary.
Imugene Quarterly Highlights: Imugene ASX
Key highlights this quarter ended 31 March 2021 include:
• $29.4m cash balance as at 31 March 2021
• Quarterly research and development expenditure was $3.9m
• HER-Vaxx presentation at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)
• CF33 presentation at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)
• PD1-Vaxx cohort 2 enrolments completed
• Imugene included in the All Ordinaires for the S&P Dow Jones Indices
Imugene’s Massive Price Jump
IMU is up to 10-year highs this week after announcing they have enhanced their portfolio with novel CD19 expressing oncolytic virus from City of Hope, a Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, California, to be developed in combination with CD19 CAR T-cell therapy
Imugene’s first clinical trial of CD19 is planned to begin in 2022.
On the back of this announcement, ROTH Capital upgraded its guidance for Imugene share price to a twelve-month target of 43 cents.
ROTH Capital expects these products to bring in royalties of $1.7 billion by the year 2031. View their report here.
After this Imugene now has three Novel Technology Platforms
- B-cell activating immunotherapies (vaccines)
- CF33 oncolytic virus (cancer-killing virus)
- onCARlytics (combination of CF33 and CAR T therapy)
Imugene Analysis: Risks
ROTH Capital outlines the following risks in their report:
- Clinical risk: Imugene’s clinical staged products could fail to deliver statistically significant results in latestage clinical trials.
- Regulatory risk: Even if successful in the clinic, Imugene’s products could fail to be approved by domestic and/or foreign regulatory bodies.
- Financing risk: Imugene will need additional capital to fund its operations, and such financing may not occur or it could be substantially dilutive to existing investors.
- Competitive risk: Any future approved Imugene products, may not be well adopted in a competitive marketplace.
- High stock price volatility: This issue is common among small-cap biotechnology companies with relatively low trading volumes.
Imugene’s Disruption
It’s no question Imugene is hoping to disrupt the cancer treatment space. We hope it does. This could mean massive improvements compared to invasive cancer treatments in use today.
The B-cell platform is aiming to supersede current monoclonal antibody therapies due to better safety, efficacy, practicality and cost. These incumbent immunotherapies include:
- Keytruda ~$12 billion annual sales
- Herceptin ~$6 billion annual sales
- Opdivo ~$8 billion annual sales
- Tecentriq ~3 billion annual sales
Is Imugene a Good Buy: Development Stages
Is Imugene A Good Buy: Prophet’s Take
Imugene is a very high-risk high-reward stock, there’s no question about it. IMU is making massive advancements but is still very early in the process. For a lot of speculative investors this is the perfect stock. For us, we’ll be watching from the sidelines on this one. Check out our moves on Appen if you’re interested.
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