SLN Discussion - open to all.
Could this be the most undervalued biotech company on AIM right now?
Some interesting action in the sp today. Is it just catchup with the market now that the distressed spreadbetter is partly out or is there more to the story?
What's happened here? That's a vicious downtrend for 12 months if i ever saw one... salvador do you know what the story is here?
Stockhound- yes. This is a UK based RNAi company with extensive ip and patents within this emerging field. The main rival out there is the US alnylam against whom sln have won several ip battles. AZN are heavily invested and there are strong emerging rumours of the company being taken out for a massive premium by one of the big 5. The rumours have been bouncing around a long time but the ip position and progress in clinical trials together with a good cash position make this one seriously undervalued cookie inho
As in RNA interference? What are the finances like... do you have any good reading matter?
Yes RNA interference specifically siRNA. The company finances are rosy at present and I believe a milestone payment from Quark/AZN is due next month. Haven't got to grips with the full functionality of this site yet hence the pH of 7!
Now changed!
They announced last week that they are starting a phase I trial of its lead cancer drug candidate, Atu-027, next year in Germany. Atu-027 targets PKN-3, a protein kinase that company researchers have linked to tumor growth and metastases. Surprised that the share price is in the doldrums.
p.s. Do any brokers cover this stock? Last broker report I can find is ING in September 2003 - not very useful!
Silence Therapeutics1,2,3,4 (SLN.L) 29.5p, Market Cap £35m (Buy) Sept 25th
Nomura bn
Silence Therapeutics has announced interim results that are in line with our expectations. The company reported a net loss of £4.9 million vs. our forecast net loss of £5.3 million and a net cash position of £5.6 million vs. our forecast of £5.1 million. No new developments were reported today, with pipeline programmes all progressing in line with our expectations. We are encouraged by the company's statement that it anticipates concluding further biotech/pharma target specific and delivery collaborations in the "next few months". The company has guided that it anticipates achieving year-end revenues "similar to those achieved last year" (FY 2007 revenues of £4.0 million vs. our current FY 2008 forecast of £5.0 million). We believe proliferation of its technology will be crucial for the company’s valuation to move closer to that of its key US peers. With a majority of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world without a position in siRNA, the opportunity is large. We believe the company’s ability to complete such deals may be assisted by two relatively recent developments: (1) the granting of a US patent covering its siRNA technology and (2) AtuRNAi does not appear to generate the unwanted interferon response potentially associated with other siRNA technologies. Our confidence in the company's position in the siRNA field continues to grow following the recent preliminary opinion of the Appeals Board of the European Patent Office that 15-21 base pairs is not supported in Alnylam's Kreutzer-Limmer patent (EP1144623). From the pipeline, the company has confirmed that its lead proprietary programme, Atu027 for cancer, remains on track to start a European Phase Ib clinical trial early 2009. We maintain our Buy rating and fair value of 200p/share.
Very interesting - it does look like there's a good chance of it getting taken out by a bigger player (assuming there's still an M&A market in this crazy world) but I guess there needs to be more proof of concept - a phase I trial is still far from a reality.
They have several other products that are in various preclin and clinical phase stages, so are not a one trick pony murakami! Check out their website http://www.silence-therapeutics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=49
salvador... i'm going to make you thread author so that you can edit the header - hope that's ok...
Good news this morning in the RNS http://www.stockopedia.com/news/announcement/SLN/081118slna3f9.htm .
They've received patents for their core siRNA technologies from the US Patent Office.
The Patent Office issued US Patent Number 7,452,987, "Interfering RNA Molecules," which covers stabilized, small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules with defined positional modifications. The claims cover siRNA molecules that are "blunt-ended," as well as molecules with one or more "overhangs", and specifically cover Silence Therapeutics' proprietary siRNA molecules, known as "AtuRNAi". Iain Ross, Chief Executive Officer of Silence Therapeutics, said: "This is exciting news for Silence. As we prepare for clinical trials of our lead compound, Atu027, in 2009, our partners and investors can be confident that Silence's AtuRNAi technology and proprietary siRNA molecules is patent-protected in the United States, the largest pharmaceutical market in the world. This is a significant step towards our goal of becoming one of the world leaders in developing RNAi therapeutics."
...it looks like SLA are very well connected in big pharma with connections with Quark Pharma and Pfizersigned... and they signed 2 major deals with Astrazeneca in 2007 so they could access the groups gene silencing technologies... With General Electric recently announcing that they are buying up Whatman it looks like the whole sector is ripe for consolidation... SLA may be a bid target at these levels with these kinds of patents. Anyone have any thoughts... ?
There's a recent interview in Investor's Chronicle where executive chairman Iain Ross says that "we’re talking to five big pharma companies at the moment" and that, while he's not " in the business of putting timelines on deals with big pharma... I’m very confident of announcing a deal over the next few months". He also adds that i) he's confident of announcing sooner, rather than later, is that its lead product wil be tested on humans and ii) that the company has enough cash for another 12 months.
It's a pretty bullish set of comments - he may be over confident but it makes me think that this stock is CHEAP, as discussed above.
Gartmore has taken a big slug of equity in the placing just announced today... they've raised another £2.6m.
