Daily Brief Health Care: PolyNovo Ltd, Ryman Healthcare, Pharmaessentia Corp, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, Pixium Vision Sa, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sonoscape Medical Corp, Catalent Inc and more

• We currently see 1 change for the ASX20 Index, 2 changes for the ASX100 Index, 4 changes for the ASX200 Index, 10 adds/7 deletes for the ASX300 Index in March.
• On average, the potential adds to each of the indices have outperformed the potential deletes with the largest outperformance for the ASX300 Index.
• Shorts have continued to increase positions on the potential deletes while covering their positions on the potential adds. We expect there are large pre-positions on some of the stocks now.

• Ryman Healthcare (RYM NZ) aims to raise around US$569m (NZ$903m) via a renounceable entitlement offer. 
• The use of proceeds will be to reset the firm’s capital structure and reduce its gearing.
• In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.

• Pharmaessentia Corp (6446 TT) recorded revenue of NT$232M (+259% YoY) for its sole marketed product Besremi in January 2023. For 2022, Besremi reported revenue of NT$2.9B (+339% YoY).
• Thus far, Besremi received approval in US, EU, Switzerland, Israel, South Korea, Macao, and Taiwan. Besremi is expected to obtain approval in Japan and China in 2Q23 and 1Q24, respectively.
• Besremi is in phase 3 trial for essential thrombocythemia, which is a myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by an overproduction of platelets in the blood resulting from a genetic mutation.

• Thermo Fisher produced a solid set of results in the fourth quarter, with impressive growth in the low teens for the quarter and mid-teens for the entire year.
• The management saw a decent growth in industrial and produced significant year-over-year growth in the businesses of mass spectrometry, chromatography, and electron microscopy.
• Overall, we give Thermo Fisher a ‘Hold’ rating with a revised target price.

Pixium has terminated its convertible note financing arrangement with the European Select Growth Opportunities Fund (ESGO) without any penalties. The termination is not surprising, given the arrangement required a minimum share price of €0.25 for Pixium to be permitted to issue any additional convertible notes beyond the initial 550 (representing €5.5m; each note had a nominal value of €10,000) that formed part of the first (and only) tranche issued. Pixium’s share price had remained below this minimum price threshold since August 2022 and the company acknowledged in October 2022 that it was not able to draw further tranches. Pixium reiterates that it is funded until the end of Q223 and is exploring various mechanisms to secure its cash flow necessary to pursue its strategic and development objectives.

• Novo Nordisk produced a double-digit operational profit and strong revenue growth, driven by excellent commercial execution in their therapy areas and critical countries.
• They also started the first two Phase trials based on the Dicerna in the siRNA technology platform.
• Besides that, Novo anticipates starting a Phase IIIb trial with Ziltivekimab in the first half of 2023 to treat heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

• We are optimistic about Sonoscape’s 2022 annual results, which was an important turning year. Due to policy catalyst/China reopening, Sonoscape would maintain high growth in 2023, with relatively high certainty.
• Sonoscape has established a high moat in the field of soft endoscopes. Even if new manufacturers enter this market, they are hard to affect the market pattern in short term.
• Although the current valuation is not cheap, based on our forecast of its business lines, there’s still growth space in valuation. Under positive momentum, this stock can be traded repeatedly.

• This is a special, one-time report on Catalent, a leading contract manufacturer and provider of advanced delivery technologies, development, and manufacturing solutions for drugs, biologics, cell and gene therapies, and consumer health products.
• This report aims to examine the factors that could influence Catalent’s valuation and provide an unbiased assessment of the company’s worth.
• In this report, we have carried out a fundamental analysis of the historical financial statements of the company.