Oryzon Genomics - Lead asset granted expansion into combo therapies

Oryzon Genomics has announced that it has been awarded an EU grant to initiate a project to investigate the company’s lead clinical oncology asset, iadademstat, in combination with immunotherapy drugs that include immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and/or cancer vaccines. The project has a global budget of €1.4m of which Oryzon will contribute c 50%; this will be partly offset by the company receiving up to €0.4m under the Eurostars-3 programme. Investigations are anticipated to start on 1 May 2023 and will be run in collaboration with the Danish immunotherapy focused biotech InProTher and the University of Copenhagen. In our view, combination therapies will form the cornerstone of future innovation in oncology, so the EU grant provides a critical platform to investigate iadademstat in novel treatment regimens and potential expansion into new indications. We value Oryzon at €847m or €15.5 per share.