We are approaching the end of the reporting season and last week the Danish biotech company published Saniona its report for the third quarter. The contrast between 2023 and 2022 is clear, not least when it comes to the company's news updates in recent months.
In 2022, the company closed its US operations, with the intention of reducing future operating expenses by approximately 70–75 percent annually. These actions, combined with a stream of positive news in 2023, made Saniona one of the best-performing life science stocks in the first half of 2023. Read more here.
Progress during Q3
In July of this year, Saniona announced one of its most important news in recent years. In July, the company began a collaboration with AstronauTx for Alzheimer's disease research. The collaboration means that Saniona can receive up to 1,9 billion SEK (177 million USD) in milestone payments, as well as royalties on global net sales of resulting products. Saniona's CEO Thomas Feltdhus commented on the deal in a interview.
Three months later, AstronauTx completed a $61 million Series A funding round. The funding, led by Novartis Venture Fund, attracted capital from several leading global venture capital investors such as Brandon Capital, Bristol Myers Squibb, EQT Life Sciences, MPM Capital and Dementia Discovery Fund.
Because Saniona's technology platform IonBase plays a central role in the collaboration with AstronauTx, BioStock contacted the company's CEO, Thomas Feldthus, for a comment. In the interview, which can be read here, Feltdhus stated:
"Certainly, the collaboration with Saniona has been subject to these top-tier investors' due diligence and demonstrated its quality and value. This financing demonstrates that it is possible to raise significant financing among leading venture capital firms based on a strong technology platform, well-founded ideas, and solid plans to resolve a significant unmet medical need in a major disease area such as Alzheimer's disease. The money is more than AstronauTx will be able to spend on the Saniona program in the near term. Therefore, it may also cover later clinical studies as well as potential other programs.”
Strategic adaptation of loans to Formue Nord
During the third quarter, Saniona also reviewed its debts. The company changed the terms of the loan agreement with Fortune North where the loan amount was reduced by Saniona repaying SEK 3 million and converting SEK 10 million into shares at a price of SEK 8,50 per share. In addition, Formue Nord received a commitment fee of SEK 4,8 million.
Important events after Q3
After the end of the reporting period, professor presented Vincenzo Crunelli vid University of Cardiff convincing preclinical data for SAN711, Saniona's lead drug candidate in ion channels, at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting in November. Data demonstrated SAN711's potent attenuation of withdrawal seizures, positioning it as a precision treatment for nonconvulsive generalized seizures.
Saniona also initiated the candidate selection phase for a proprietary subtype-selective frontrunner molecule from the optimization program with Kv7 which targets epilepsy. This step underscores Saniona's commitment to developing clinical candidates for various epilepsy indications.
According to Saniona, the commercial potential of Kv7 epilepsy drugs is illustrated by the fact that sector companies Xenon and Biohaven, both active in the Q7 space, have a market capitalization of approximately $2 billion, largely based on their Q7 development programs. Read an interview with Thomas Feldthus about this here.
“We have a broad pipeline, which we are developing in collaboration with partners. We have a long and successful history of finding and negotiating partnerships, such as the new collaboration with AstronauTx in Alzheimer's disease. Based on our business discussions, I am confident that we will reach additional partnerships. At the same time, we are leveraging our research expertise in ion channels to identify and advance additional clinical drug candidates in a range of epilepsy indications. Saniona has a lot to offer in epilepsy and can create significant value for shareholders in this area.” – Thomas Feldthus, from the Q3 report, 2023