Shield Therapeutics - Strategic year-end pivot sets tone for robust FY23

Shield Therapeutics’ FY22 trading update reported FY22 revenues of £8.5m, a material improvement on the £1.5m recorded in FY21 and broadly in line with our estimate of £8.8m. Sharp growth in prescription volumes (25,200 in FY22) continued to drive Accrufer sales in the US (£2.8m), although we note that the number of prescriptions in Q422 (9,324) was slightly lower than previous guidance of 9,700. However, this was offset by better-than-expected European royalty revenues of £1.3m (£0.9m in FY21), translating to a solid £0.5m in Q422 (from £0.14m in Q322). A key highlight of the year was the strategic co-commercialisation of Accrufer in the US with Viatris (previously Mylan), a leading global generic pharmaceutical manufacturer, in December 2022, allowing for broader market coverage and faster ramp-up. We expect benefits from the enlarged salesforce (c 100 from 22 at end FY22) to start showing from Q223. Based on our projections, Shield remains funded to profitability following receipt of a $5m upfront payment from Viatris, and subsequent $10m in incremental funding from AOP Health, and $21.7m from an equity raise.