Daily Brief Health Care: Indegene Limited, Sigma Healthcare, Daiichi Sankyo, Sumitomo Pharma, Quest Diagnostics, AFT Pharmaceuticals, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc and more

• Indegene Limited (1864095D IN) is looking to raise about US$220m in its upcoming India IPO.
• Indegene is a “digital-first” commercialisation firm with an exclusive focus on the global life sciences industry.
• We looked at the firm’s past performance in an earlier note. In this note, we look at the RHP updates.

• Seven Group Holdings (SVW AU) now holds 85.8% of Boral Ltd (BLD AU) and that will lead to deletion of Boral from the S&P/ASX 200 (AS51 INDEX). 
• As expected, Sigma Healthcare (SIG AU) will be added to the S&P/ASX 200 (AS51 INDEX) at the close on 9 May.
• Sigma Healthcare (SIG AU) price movements will be largely influenced by its pending merger with Chemist Warehouse Group (CWG).

• Cancer is the most common cause of death in Japan, and at 282.9 cases per 100 000 people, it ranks at the upper end of the global recorded range.
• In 2020, Daiichi Sankyo embarked on transforming to a leading oncology specialist in terms of new drug development.
• Daiichi Sankyo’s ADC pipeline comprises of six higher level drugs with a number of indications (sub-categories). This pipeline is part of a universe of 2499 oncology drugs in development.

• Sumitomo Pharma (4506 JP) cut FY24 revenue guidance by 1% to ¥314.6B (-43% YoY) and raised operating loss guidance by ¥199B to ¥355B. Impairment loss of ¥180B negatively impacted bottomline.
• Sumitomo has set FY25 revenue guidance at ¥338B (down 27% from MTBP 2027) and core operating profit at ¥1B (down 98% from MTBP 2027). The company suspended FY25 dividend.
• The company will announce FY25 guidance for operating and net profits during the announcement of FY24 result, scheduled for May 14, 2024.

• Quest Diagnostics’ earnings promising headlines such as the company delivering nearly 6% base business revenue growth in Q1, Quest’s ability to sustain strong commercial focus on physicians and hospitals, continued investment in automation and artificial intelligence (AI), and a reevaluation of the guidance for the full year.
• Quest Diagnostics’ Q1 growth was driven by its significant focus on physicians and hospitals.
• The company’s broad health plan access allowed it to leverage sustained high rates of health care utilization to drive new customer growth.

AFT continues to expand its Maxigesic IV footprint with the announcement of a licensing agreement in Brazil, the largest pharma market in South America and tenth largest market globally. The deal signed with Halex Istar, a leading manufacturer of injectables in the country, provides a strong foundation for further extension into the Latin American and global markets, an overarching long-term goal for AFT. Maxigesic IV is a higher-strength version of AFT’s proprietary paracetamol plus ibuprofen formulation targeting post-surgical pain relief in the hospital setting. It is currently available in 36 countries, including the US, with the recent launch by Hikma, its distribution partner.

• Thermo Fisher Scientific posted a strong start to the year, with the first-quarter revenue reaching $10.34 billion and an increase of 2% year-over-year in adjusted EPS, to $5.11 per share.
• The robust financial performance was primarily driven by strong operational discipline, superior commercial execution, and its effective growth strategy.
• The company managed to beat their expectations which is reflected in the raised guidance, setting the stage for strong performance in 2024.