ORY-1001 rights back to Oryzon

Roche’s decision to discontinue the development of ORY-1001 and return the rights to Oryzon was major recent news. Roche cited portfolio reprioritisation as the reason and that the decision was not driven by data. While this is a setback in business development for Oryzon, in our view, ORY-1001’s potential has not been compromised and the company indicated that it will continue developing ORY-1001 for both current indications, acute leukaemia and SCLC, before seeking a new partner for late-stage development. On a more positive note, Oryzon reported positive final Phase I data for ORY-2001, which is now ready for further development in several neurological indications. Our valuation is €295m (vs €312m previously) or €8.6/share.