Newron Pharmaceuticals - Evenamide focus, Supernus to sell Xadago in US

Given that sarizotan did not meet the primary or any secondary endpoints in the pivotal Rett syndrome STARS study, Newron is focusing on its novel schizophrenia drug, Evenamide. This clinical programme, due to resume in 2020, is on hold due to COVID-19, but Phase III may start in Q321. A new marketing partner (Supernus) has taken over US Xadago sales (2019 royalties of €4.8m), which should yield higher growth. A dyskinesia trial is planned to expand the indication. Newron drew down a €7.5m EIB loan in April (a €15m loan facility remains) and had €39m cash at end December 2019. This provides cash throughout 2021. Our indicative value has been revised to CHF121m (formerly CHF340m) after removing sarizotan sales and costs.