Merrill Upgrade in February 1999
Merrill upgraded BIOM in November... Just in case this was not posted here.
12 Month Price Objective: C$10.00/US$6.50
Bloomberg / Reuters: /
We are upgrading Biomira's shares to
intermediate-term Buy and long-term
Accumulate.
· The company's lead cancer vaccine,
Theratope for treating breast cancer, is in
Phase III testing with partner Chiron. While
we continue to believe that development of this
vaccine is high-risk the market size is large —
it could potentially generate several hundred
million dollars in sales.
· Finally, Biomira has a cancer vaccine pipeline
that is advancing. Its second-generation
cancer vaccine, BLP-25, has completed Phase
I testing for the treatment of lung cancer —
we expect these results in Q1 '99. The other
second-generation vaccine, for treating B-cell
lymphoma, is expected to enter Phase I trials
in H1 '99.
· Genentech's sales of Herceptin were
US$30.5 million for Q4 '98 — off to a good
start, considering the product was launched
on October 5, 1998. We would use Herceptin
as a comparable drug to Theratope, since it is
approved for the treatment of breast cancer.
· Our new price objective is based on
discounting our 2003 EPS estimates of $0.83
back by 35% and applying a multiple of 35x.
1 February 1999
André Uddin, Ph.D.
Senior Analyst Biomira Inc.
New Vaccines Move Forward — Raising
Price Objective and Rating
BUY
Long Term
ACCUMULATE Reason for Report: Opinion Change
Merrill Lynch & Co.
Global Securities Research & Economics Group
Global Fundamental Equity Research Department |
