Fusion Antibodies Share Discussion Threads

[maverick247] 04/5/2020 09:27

Starting to get funky see 250p here pretty quick 3-400p on real momentum GLA

[burtond1] 03/5/2020 10:31

Covid 19 review by @tmsreachhttps://total-market-solutions.com/2020/05/01/covid-19-company-review/

[ianb5004] 02/5/2020 11:13

Fusion Antibodies (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery.
They are now working with Queen’s University Belfast (“QUB”) as part of The Northern Ireland Coronavirus Antibody Development Alliance (“NICADA”;), which has been established to seek new therapeutic and diagnostic approaches to help in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

NICADA aims to develop new therapeutic molecules that can be evaluated for their ability to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease

it is intended that Fusion will prepare antibodies that will potentially neutralise the virus.
FAB are now fully funded to carry out this development.

[ianb5004] 02/5/2020 11:13

The fight against COVID-19 and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)Today 11:09
COVID-19 is a mild infection for eight out of 10 people who get it.[1] However for others it can lead to inflammation and eventually Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) or Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury (VILI).

So what role do FAB have in the fight against Covid-19?

FAB are working with Aqualung therapeutics who are advancing towards the clinic with a solution to combat serious unchecked inflammation, this offers a potential option in the treatment of COVID-19.[3]
Aqualung have long recognized the need for an antibody-based solution to ARDS and have been working with Fusion Antibodies since 2018. In 2019 we carried out antibody humanization and followed up with a developability study enabling Aqualung to select the best possible lead candidate which they are now taking forward for Investigational New Drug (IND) trial.

hxxps://www.fusionantibodies.com/news/the-fight-against-covid-19-and-acute-respiratory-distress-syndrome-ards/#_ftnref2

FAB are working with other clients to deliver antibodies to treat ARDS and have started work with a client to develop an antibody specifically against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

See part 2

[moneymunch] 01/5/2020 19:16

Paul Kerr, CEO of Fusion Antibodies plc commented : "We are delighted to be able to announce this oversubscribed placing which will help us in our critical work. In these currently extremely challenging times, we now have the resources to undertake the additional proof-of-concept work on the Mammalian Antibody Library Discovery Platform in respect of COVID-19, as well as for our existing oncology targets, whilst continuing to support our clients in their vital role. We remain confident that our products and services can help to accelerate finding a solution to this global health crisis."

[moneymunch] 01/5/2020 19:15

This is going to go big time, as good news rolls in .Gla :-)


As previously announced, a number of the Company's clients are amongst the leading developers of therapeutic drugs and diagnostics and are working on solutions related to COVID-19. The Company has received a number of enquiries from its clients for services and is well placed to assist in this vital area of development.

Further, the Company has an ongoing programme to develop a Mammalian Antibody Library Discovery Platform (the "Library") which, once live, is expected to reduce the length of time needed for antibody drug development compared with conventional practices. The Company's development programme on the Library is about to enter the proof-of-concept stage.

In late 2019, the first cases of a new coronavirus infectious disease, COVID-19, caused by the virus SARS-Cov-2 were detected in China and, since then, the virus has spread into a global health emergency. This presents an opportunity for the Company to test and benchmark the Library in a real-world setting against an unmet medical need. Effective vaccines, treatments, both prophylactic and therapeutic, and diagnostic tests are required to produce a long-term solution for this disease. The Company will aim to use its antibody expertise and, in particular, the Library to contribute towards finding a solution. The proof-of-concept programme will involve validation against several therapeutic indications encompassing COVID-19, together with other well understood oncology targets. In addition to validating the Library in readiness for commercialisation there is the potential to develop successfully produced antibodies further for therapeutic use in conjunction with commercial partners.

Commercial Benefits

The key objective for the Company is to achieve a significant impact upon the commercial launch of the Library platform to a global audience. The Directors believe that the enhanced reputation of the Library from the rapid development of antibodies that address the COVID-19 disease and other targets for therapeutic use will enable the Company to maximise future returns from its commercial application. Additionally, there is the possibility that antibodies generated during the validation of the Library could be developed further in collaboration with a commercial partner.

Reasons for the Placing

The race to find solutions to the current global health emergency has begun and so the Directors believe that Company must act swiftly to take this opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of its new technology. Given the current economic uncertainty, the Directors consider that it is in the best interests of the Company to undertake the Placing at the current time, in order to provide the Company with the resources to undertake the additional proof-of-concept work on the Library in respect of COVID-19, as well as for the existing oncology targets, whilst continuing to support its clients in their critical work.

Use of proceeds

Whilst work on the Library project has already commenced, in order to widen it to have an emphasis on COVID-19, the Company will manage an extensive R&D program involving producing SARS-Cov-2 viral antigens, the synthesis and analysis of rational libraries of antibodies and development using the Company's antibody engineering platforms. In order to facilitate this work, the Company will be required to recruit additional research scientists and make corresponding alterations to workspace and laboratory accommodation. New specialised equipment will be purchased and third-party testing and validation will be employed to fully develop the capabilities of the Library. The Company will use the net proceeds of the Placing to undertake these actions, as well as for general working capital purposes for the existing contract services business.

Current trading and prospects

Year-end trading update

Notwithstanding the current COVID-19 pandemic and resulting Government restrictions, trading remained strong throughout the year to 31 March 2020 ("FY 2020"). The Company commenced the commercialisation of its new RAMP(TM) service this year and this has contributed materially to the revenues in FY 2020. Subject to audit, the Company expects to report numbers for FY 2020 in line with current market expectations, with revenue of not less than GBP3.8 million. The Company ended FY 2020 with an unaudited cash balance of GBP1.5 million.

As announced on 30 March 2020, the Company remains open and fully operational and is conducting vital business, as usual, for its customers. Like many other companies, the Company has experienced short periods when a member of staff has had to self-isolate as a result of COVID-19 symptoms or from being in direct contact with a symptomatic person. If well, staff are endeavouring to continue to work from home during periods of isolation, and all affected staff have returned to work after the quarantine period. As the Company's laboratories and offices are all contained within one building, hygiene practices were already strong. To provide a safer environment with better social distancing for the Company's laboratory-based scientists, all other staff who can work from home have been doing so for several weeks.

As noted above, Fusion's clients include developers of therapeutic drugs and diagnostics, a number of whom are working on solutions relating to COVID-19 and/or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. The Company is well positioned to continue to provide outsourced services to these clients and is pleased to note that one of the projects in which the Company has an interest in future royalties has been developed for this therapeutic area.

Outlook

Whilst the current economic uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant restrictions mean that it is not possible to predict with accuracy what the impact will be on Fusion for the forthcoming financial period, the Board believes, for the reasons set out above, that the Company is well positioned to continue to trade with limited impact on its service provision. Further, it provides an opportunity for the Company to try to contribute to a solution to the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting its clients and completing a proof-of-concept on the Library using antibodies that may be able to address the COVID-19 disease.

[moneymunch] 01/5/2020 13:38

22/4/20

Overcoming obstacles on the path to the clinic

Posted on 22nd April 2020

Therapeutic antibodies have revolutionized the treatment of numerous diseases, but not every antibody has what it takes to become a licensed medicine. Finding a high-affinity antibody that binds to your target is only the first step. The ideal therapeutic antibody must have good efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics (PK) and stability, and in addition, be easy to manufacture to ensure commercial viability.

Safety first

Safety is the first requirement for any medicine, and this is no different for therapeutic antibodies. Perhaps most importantly, a good therapeutic antibody should bind to its target with high specificity. For example, an antibody that is designed to target tumour cells should ignore healthy cells, as off-target binding might lead to unexpected side effects.

It’s also crucial to fine-tune the antibody’s affinity – how tightly it binds to its target. If the affinity is too low and the antibody binds its target only weakly, the therapeutic effect may not be achieved. Conversely, if the affinity is too high, the antibody dose could be “used up” too quickly, and the likelihood of off-target activity might increase.

Another important step is to minimise the risk of the antibody generating an immunogenic reaction. If an antibody is unstable, it can aggregate, misfold or even give rise to potentially dangerous metabolites such as charge variants (which occur when an amino acid has been oxidised or deaminated). These seemingly minor changes can render an antibody immunogenic, as well as reducing its efficacy.

Optimising efficacy and PK

When it comes to optimising the efficacy of an antibody, one of the major challenges is fine-tuning its affinity. The antibody needs to have sufficiently high affinity to ensure that it works as intended, but not high enough that it binds to off-target molecules and causes unintended side effects. In some cases, reducing the antibody’s affinity might actually increase its functionality, particularly in the case of multi-specific antibodies that bind two or more antigens at once (1).

Therapeutic antibodies also need to be delivered efficiently to where they’re needed in the body, and hang around for long enough to have an effect. At the same time, there should be a focus on minimising the number of doses the patient requires. The PK of the antibody can be optimised by careful screening for liabilities in its sequence that could, for example, make it unstable, meaning greater and more frequent doses are required.

Cost of goods

With increasing numbers of approvals, the therapeutic antibody market is getting crowded and competitive. Healthcare payers need to control costs, a pressure that is passed onto manufacturers. Thus, cost control should be part of every antibody development programme from the beginning.

Optimising antibody expression and considering the “manufacturability” of antibody sequences is fundamental to developing any therapeutic antibody, and ultimately also has an impact on cost. A functionally perfect antibody that becomes overly modified or degraded during large scale manufacture will not make it to the clinic. For example, manufacturability can be affected by free cysteines, formation of interchain disulphide bond formation and aggregation. Less dramatic self-interaction may still only be evident at the high concentrations required for a clinical production batch.

Stability is another cost factor. Optimizing the antibody for longer shelf life and reducing the need for cold storage can help to keep costs down.

Help from a trusted partner

Fusion Antibodies’ rational affinity maturation platform – RAMPTM – produces functional antibodies that are optimised to jump the hurdles littering the path to the clinic, helping to control costs along the way. Rational library design reduces the risk of sequence liabilities and the downstream risks of aggregation and immunogenicity (2). This can increase yield, optimise affinity and promote stability. The best candidates are screened out in silico from the library and expressed in mammalian cells for further characterisation – including manufacturability.

Contact us to see how we can optimise your antibody for the clinic

[ianb5004] 01/5/2020 13:12

Good balanced piece by TMS - It looks clear FAB have some catching up to do. The 13% dilution is tiny when you look at the rises in the other companies. The free float was tiny before the raise so matter of time imo

[burtond1] 01/5/2020 12:05

https://total-market-solutions.com/2020/05/01/covid-19-company-review/The majority of listed companies across the world have been battered on their stock markets by the unfolding coronavirus crisis in recent months. But for the few companies that may be able to play a part in tackling Covid-19, the pandemic has added significant value. Below, we take a look at some of the Aim-listed companies that have benefited so far, outlining what role they may play in defeating coronavirus, and assessing whether there is more to come from each of them.

[maverick247] 01/5/2020 11:20

Could get interesting here next week looking at the buying

[ianb5004] 01/5/2020 11:03

I’m surprised more are not getting in this one. It was flying well over £2 last week before they did a placing. Only 13% dilution and mostly with sticky holders. Actually added a little liquidity as the free float of share is very tight.

Very few aim Pharmas actually have revenue streams most just burn cash at speed. Fab revenues are growing.

[cbeadle] 01/5/2020 09:07

Seems like one of the biotech stocks yet to take off, maybe they need to get their placement out of the way. They seem diverse and well funded

[gwr7] 01/5/2020 08:15

Yes, instead of burning cash it went up from £1.3m in September 2019 to £1.5m in March. The statement below from the interims is meaningful given, as you say, the quality of their customers.

"We have received our first commercial revenues from early adopters of RAMP, and the feedback from the service has been very promising."

[moneymunch] 01/5/2020 07:20

Fusion's clients include some of the leading developers of therapeutic drugs and diagnostics, a number of whom are working on solutions relating to COVID-19, Cash Flow positive and have just raised £3.5m cash and only 26m shares in issue....Grab 'em while you can. Gla ;-)

[moneymunch] 01/5/2020 07:08

Looks Fab to me...Gl ;-)

[ianb5004] 01/5/2020 06:50

POST ON LSE LAST NIGHT - THOUGHTS ?


FAB vs HEMO. Thu 22:04

I have analysed both and FAB beats HEMO in every single area:

FAB has lower Market Cap

FAB has lower Free Float

FAB is better Funded

FAB is directly finding a Human Antibody using their tried and tested mammalian library vs HEMO which is a much slower process of testing in humanised rats

FAB is already established with bluechip pharma companies that use them

FABs business is underpinned through existing revenues

FAB is Fabulous :-)

[gwr7] 01/5/2020 00:08

I’ve just been having a look at the figures with a snifter of malt. (This virus has knocked my sleep to pot - I need my routine back). In the placing announcement I had concentrated on the covid news. I hadn’t paid much attention to the trading statement which shows the company moved cash flow positive over the last 6 months. With annnual revenue nearly doubling it looks like their development work is paying off. It’s clear the cash was raised for an opportunity they couldn’t miss.
The tie up with Queen’s University has no monetary benefit but they will be getting benefit in kind as they help to validate the mammalian library by developing antibodies against covid. As the CEO said:
“We remain confident that our products and services can help to
accelerate finding a solution to this global health crisis."

[moneymunch] 30/4/2020 16:34

30/3/20

Fusion's clients include some of the leading developers of therapeutic drugs and diagnostics, a number of whom are working on solutions relating to COVID-19. The Company has been engaged and received further expressions of interest regarding its services for a number of projects in this therapeutic area and is well placed to support its clients in this vital work.

[gwr7] 30/4/2020 10:58

Thanks moneymunch. Nice write up by Early Bird even if lacking in technical knowledge. Far better than my Trump hunch though! He could have mentioned the quadrillion lottery tickets we have for starters. There is so much emphasis on Oxford and Cambridge in the UK. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Queen’s University Belfast and FAB Fusion Antibodies could make a major breakthrough? As I said it’s a punt for me but for Fusion and shareholders it could be a win win with validation of their technique and a therapeutic antibody against SARS-CoV-2.
A couple of relevant links to the company website.

[cbeadle] 30/4/2020 09:47

I have bought here for the first time. It might not quite be as undervalued and forgotten as HEMO was a month ago but there’s huge potential, and transforming news is quite likely

[maverick247] 30/4/2020 09:46

Solid write-up here Targeting cv19 solution by summer that would indeed be huge HTTPS://docs.google.com/document/d/1El_lMylPZPKIL1Pf2GmZV98YXeZsSERHZ1Pt8iYPBpQ/mobilebasic

[trotterstrading] 30/4/2020 09:24

Joined the party - some excellent notes in circulation

[moneymunch] 30/4/2020 09:15

Courtesy of Early Bird on Lse . Gla ;-)


Fusion Antibodies (LSE:FAB)

29th April, 2022

Disclaimer
Research Notes prepared by @TheMoneySponge. These should not be taken as investment advice and accuracy in statements cannot be guaranteed. These are to assist other researchers who may wish to research further and serve as a starting point. I hold a position.

Market Cap: £26M

Key Highlights
Leaders in anti
body discovery, development and supply Active COVID-19 programme targeting end solution by summer that can be licensed Participation in the NICADA consortium to find antibody to neutralise COVID-19

Revenue generation underpins business with year on year growth

Leading Humanisation technology succeed where others fail Antibody Library that has potential to bring drugs and therapies to market faster

Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome partnership in trials with Aqualung
Pharma comes into focus

I’m pretty new to the world of Pharma and like many others have been bowled over by the interest especially on the AIM market recently. The interest has been largely driven by the development of COVID-19 with a number of companies looking at vaccines and a variation of diagnostics and potential treatments.

I do not profess to be an expert in this sector by any means and it can be difficult to differentiate between the various offerings and determining which companies may or may not benefit from CV19.

With this in mind it's useful in my opinion to identify some of the companies that do not rely on CV19 but could see substantial upside, should they play a major role in a given solution, whether that be testing, therapies or indeed vaccines.

Finding exposure to the potential CV19 upside whilst backed by a robust existing business from core offering could be a less risky way to approach this as an investor.

There are some good examples of these types of plays including AVCT and ORPH to name a couple, for example ORPH progressing with their HVivo universal flu vaccine offering

It's also worth noting that many of the junior pharma companies have made significant moves already with the backdrop of CV19 in terms of share price appreciation so identifying companies where potential upside that may not yet be priced in is a consideration.

That doesnt mean by the way that those companies wont go on to further deliver multiple returns, this is the reality of pharma!

Hence in this brief research note, I'm going to focus on Fusion Antibodies given it has a current market cap of £26m at time of writing largely under-pinned by its core business given it IPO’d at 82p per share and is currently trading at 115p per share.

The company has recently executed a fundraise (I did not participate in this) but have bought shares on market since the raise. The raise is primarily to advance the Mammalian Antibody Library (more on this in a bit) to validate the library for commercialisation.

The company is confident that incorporating CV19 into the library validation will not only help bring this to commercialisation faster but accelerate finding a solution to CV19, an interesting proposition for investors on both fronts.

About Fusion

Fusion Antibodies offers a complete range of antibody-related services in Discovery, Engineering and Supply and have guided hundreds of projects through critical preclinical stages.

Fusion have established a strong blue-chip client base including 8 out of the top 10 Pharma by revenue

As mentioned previously the business is already revenue generating with revenues expected to reach circa £3m in 2020. Importantly this revenue is growing year on year as they build out their offering and become a key player in the space.

The company is involved in many aspects of antibody discovery, engineering and supply but in this brief note I'm just going to touch upon a couple of streams that have interested me and I believe could offer material and potentially game-changing upside whilst still running a growing core business.

Most notably and of current relevance, the company is already working on a number of solutions related to COVID-19 and as recently communicated are receiving a number of new enquiries from clients for its services to assist them in this space!

Antibody Humanisation

The company has developed a proprietary platform CDRx which is used to ‘humanise̵7; antibodies. The platform can be used by pharma companies wishing to develop therapeutic and diagnostic drug candidates for drug trials.

In fact, Fusion has been approached by large pharma companies in the past to utilise their platform where the company itself could not achieve humanisation.

The humanised antibodies are derived from animal hosts so they can be safely used on humans. This is a critical process for moving to human trials and Fusion have successfully humanised over 150 targets with an overall 90% success rate. Many of the targets have reached clinical trials

Fusion makes their money in humanising the antibodies charging a fixed development cost along with milestone payments as the candidate drug progresses.

With the ever increasing emphasis on development of antibodies to tackle a raft of diseases and with the advent of CV19, I would expect Fusion to see significant growth in this business area as global attention turns to how to tackle and eradicate dangerous diseases and variants quickly.

Basically the world can't afford to go into repeated lock-down and I expect significant investment in this area of pharma in the future personally.




Mammalian Antibody Library and COVID-19

This is the exciting part !

Fusion has been developing what they call a Mammalian Antibody Library which is in POC (Proof of Concept) stage. With the global focus on COVID-19 and the race for pharma companies to find vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, Fusion have by way of the recent fundraise allocated significant funding to fast-track and expand the scope of the work to validate their library and include COVID-19

Expanding the scope of the POC to include COVID-19 alongside other planned oncology targets should allow the company to validate the platform faster than planned whilst also potentially making a breakthrough in the CV19 space. In fact the company is confident they will and that successful use of the library for COVID-19 would substantially reduce the time needed for antibody drug development compared to conventional practices. Clearly working with partners and achieving this would have game-changing upside for the company and investors.

The Library itself had been targeted towards other oncology targets including cancer so in itself, once validated and used in development of various drugs and therapies that can achieve faster time to market, would be a game-changing development regardless.

The addition of CV19 into the equation has a two-fold benefit in that the platform will be validated faster whilst, as previously discussed, potentially finding solutions applicable to CV19.

In fact, fusion recently announced a research alliance with Queen's University Belfast for CV19 antibody development. This is part of the wider NICADA consortium and gives Fusion access to the CV19 virus and importantly grant funding.

The aim will be to develop new therapeutic molecules that can be evaluated for their ability to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 (CV19)

Fusion will prepare antibodies that will potentially neutralise the virus by exposing the virus to the library and are confident of being able to identify a specific antibody for it. That's clearly a huge result for Fusion and shareholders given there currently hasn't been one discovered.



And if they succeed?

Upon identification of an antibody Fusion could license it to large pharma’s to develop the end treatments including vaccines or therapy, clearly this would be transformative for Fusion and its shareholders.

At the minute we are focused on CV19 but remember the original intention of the library was for other applications so just as significantly, development of antibodies for other applications like cancer and other diseases would yield the same transformational rewards via either licensing or royalties.

Validating the library really would be a game-changer much wider reaching than CV19

There is another angle too!

As reported in the media recently, post CV19 complications occur such as ARDS (Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome). It can take patients up to 15 years to recover from CV19 related lung damage and/or ventilator use.

ARDS itself though isn't restricted to CV19 and can be caused by other lung conditions such as severe asthma etc.

Fusion have partnered with Aqualung who are running its IND drug trial for ARDS. Fusion has developed the antibody via its humanisation process. I have no details of the commercial relationship here but one would imagine fusion will have a royalty or licensing agreement in place here so one to keep an eye on for sure.

Conclusion

So before I highlight all the fluffy bits and why those invested could be sitting on significant returns we need to be aware that pharma itself and small cap companies in general carry high risk so don't be throwing the kitchen sink in, manage your risk !

Now back to business...

So hopefully in this brief research note I've helped you understand a bit more about Fusion’s business (at least as how I understand it). Remember, i didn't cover everything they do here, just touched upon the key points that interest me, if you want further info go to their website where there is a lot more info on what they do.

Personally I think the landscape is going to change and Governments are going to throw money at R&D in the pharmaceutical space which should benefit pharmaceutical companies generally.

If you think about it, what has the cost been to shut and lock-down the world's largest economies? It runs into the trillions and my view is countries that can develop an elite-force in fighting any future invisible enemies will be at an economic advantage.

Back to Fusion…

Fusion does seem to be in a pretty unique space in that they clearly have the technical expertise in the antibody discovery, development and supply arena which is pretty much what all end pharmaceutical companies need to get end products to market, especially if partnering with Fusion means their time to market could be quicker.

I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the Mammalian Antibody Library developments which given the stage could yield a CV19 break-through anytime given the solutions they are working on which could be vaccine/treatment or diagnostic related, but as I said not limited to given other target diseases.

In addition there is the Aqualung partnership in ARDS trials which if successful could prove very lucrative for Fusion.

All this against the back-drop of a growth business anyway on the services and humanisation side.

At £26m market cap and a share price not far from original IPO, backed by a revenue generating business that is growing as the company are recognised for their technical expertise and given that the company seem yet to make a move like other peers involved in the CV19 space yet they seem like they could be playing a significant role in this space, I reckon it's a compelling buy, certainly if you consider other pharmas have travelled 4-5x from similar market caps on CV19 projects

Food for thought...

[moneymunch] 30/4/2020 09:06

A squillion reasons to be invested. Gl ;-)

[gwr7] 29/4/2020 22:50

Jeepers, it was hard enough typing my quadillion! It's a lot anyway. I'll remember some of those for the zoom pub quiz.