SymBio Pharmaceuticals - Preparing to establish own sales organisation

SymBio announced in October that it has begun preparations to establish its own sales organisation to market Treakisym and other anticancer drugs in Japan after the marketing agreement with Eisai expires in December 2020. The announcement validates our decision earlier this year to adopt self-commercialisation in Japan in our base-case valuation model. Self-commercialisation will improve operating margins and allow it to establish a team of in-house experts to communicate the benefits of Treakisym (and rigosertib if approved) to healthcare providers. Our valuation increases to ¥25.5bn as we roll forward the DCF model; our earnings forecasts and valuation assumptions are unchanged.