Daily Brief Health Care: Lutronic Corp, Eubiologics, Respiri Ltd, Immix Biopharma Inc, Jupiter Life Line Hospitals, Amgen Inc, Angelalign Technology and more

• Lutronic Corp and Jeisys Medical have considerably lower DTV in comparison to their float shares. It is highly probable that they have artificially increased their float shares.
• Coincidentally, these two stocks are the ones that have experienced the most dramatic increase in borrow balance after the result announcement.
• These two stocks are being targeted for short-selling from a post-event perspective because the market believes they will exhibit abnormal passive (price) impact due to their inflated float shares.

• Due to the surging cholera cases globally, demand for cholera vaccines for public market continues to grow. According to GAVI, shortage of cholera vaccine is likely to continue through 2025.
• To respond to surging vaccine demand, Eubiologics (206650 KS) plans to increase its production capacity from the current 33M doses per year to a maximum of 90M doses in 2027.
• Eubiologics, in partnership with TechInvention is launching Euvichol-Plus in India. India is among the top cholera-endemic countries, with an estimated incidence rate of 1.64 per 1,000 people.

In a strategic push of its US commercialisation strategy, Respiri has announced the proposed acquisition of Access Managed Services, its US remote patient monitoring (RPM) and chronic care management partner, for a cash consideration of up to US$3m (A$4.5m). We expect the acquisition to afford Respiri greater oversight of operations and sales and marketing efforts, potentially reducing sales cycles and expediting patient onboarding. The acquisition will also result in the RPM recurring revenue increasing to US$70–100 from US$10–20 per patient, although we note Respiri will cease to recognise revenue from device sales and operating expenses will likely trend higher. Management now guides for break-even to be achieved at 9,000 patients (by end CY24) vs 30,000–40,000 patients previously. The acquisition will be funded by a A$6.5m capital raise, including A$4.5m in convertible notes and a A$2m equity offer. We will update our model and estimates following the fund-raise and deal closure.

Following recent updates regarding Immix’s CAR-T therapy (NXC-201) and Q123 results, we have adjusted our financial estimates. Quarterly R&D expenses of $1.3m were lower than expected, largely due to lower clinical development costs. Roughly 48% of these expenses were related to quarterly payments made to the licensors of Nexcella’s (Immix’s majority-owned, 94%, subsidiary) CAR-T therapy, NXC-201. Based on the quarterly R&D spend run rate, we have revised our FY23 R&D expenses to $6.1m, down from $11.7m previously. The resulting operating loss of $10.9m is down from $15.8m previously. Immix ended the quarter with a net-cash position of $11.5m and raised a further $2.5m post quarter end through the company’s ATM facility, which we anticipate will provide an operating cash runway into Q224, a slight extension from Q423 previously. Our valuation of Immix has been adjusted due to the higher pro-forma cash position of $14m, rolling our model forward and our revised R&D estimates. We value Immix at $83.3m or $5.5 per share (previously $77.1m or $5.5/share).

• Jupiter Life Line Hospitals (0372574D IN) is looking to raise about US$135m in its upcoming India IPO. The deal will be run by ICICI Securities, Edelweiss Financial Services and JM Financial.
• Jupiter Life Line Hospitals (JLLH) is among the key multi-specialty tertiary and quaternary healthcare providers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area (MMR) and western region of India, according to CRISIL. 
• Its hospitals function on an ‘all-hub-no-spoke’ model with each hospital being a full-service hospital, operating independently and offering services such as diagnostics to surgery and rehabilitation.

• It was a mixed first quarter for Amgen, with unit volume growth across global markets driving a 2% year-over-year increase in product sales.
• Despite some challenges, such as net price decline and inventory declines, the company achieved sustainable sales on 10 of its brands.
• The company’s priority products, including Repatha, EVENITY, KYPROLIS, and TEZSPIRE, experienced robust volume growth.

• Angelalign’s business model is easily challenged by lower priced similar competing products. Once Angelalign’s products lose price advantage, it would lead to a rapid decline in overall sales performance. 
• Performance growth could still be under pressure this year due to unsatisfactory demand.The potential price war, further price reduction and increasing selling/marketing expenses would put more pressure on profit margin.
• Angelalign hasn’t accumulated enough data size due to few overseas customers, which could lead to product quality issues and slow internationalization progress. There is downside risk due to overvaluation.