The recording of today's meeting with Jon Pilcher from Neuren is now up.
The big takeaways:
- NNZ-2591 has the potential to be much more impactful than Daybue -- both in terms of addressable market and the nature of partnership agreements (which should be much more favourable than the initial agreement with Acadia)
- Jon was extremely optimistic about its prospects, not just because of very encouraging Phase 2 results, but because of their experience bringing trofinetide to market
- Expect about 2 years or so before this is contributing to revenues
- In the meantime, they have a fortress balance sheet. It seems more than enough to support them, especially given their Daybue business is profitable and fast growing.
- The partnership agreement outside of North America was significantly better than the initial terms with Acadia, and the market in Europe is essentially the same size.
- The business is in the best shape its ever been, and yet the share price is down 50% or so from its high. I suspect because the market got a little carried away last year, but also because of some doubt cast by a short report targeting Acadia, and a downward revision in Acadia sales -- but Jon said that had little to do with their partnership
Neuren operates in a high-risk space, but it seems like things have been substantially de-risked in recent years. A reliable cash-cow in Daybue with a long runway of growth, a rock-solid balance sheet and another candidate coming to market (hopefully) in the coming years with even bigger potential.
I haven't had a crack at a valuation, but things certainly seem more compelling now given the recent decline in price.