Hat trick

Basilea announced a hat trick of positive news flow in June. This includes two separate licensing deals covering Cresemba (for invasive mould infections) and Zevtera, as well as triggering the allocation of $54.8m reimbursement funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) relating to the advancement of Zevtera’s US phase III clinical programme for bacterial infections (trials to initiate H217). Most notable is the major licensing deal with Pfizer for Cresemba in Europe, Russia, Turkey and Israel; Pfizer is the partner of choice given its long-standing expertise in this market. Additionally, Avir Pharma has licensed both Cresemba and Zevtera for the Canadian market. Our forecasts and valuation are under review; we will update both post further disclosure on the PFE deal at the interim results on 10 August.