OncoSil Medical Ltd (ASX:OSL) has been receiving a lot of broker attention recently, and Bell Potter has maintained its Buy, while boosting its Valuation by 18% to $0.39 per share. The following is an extract from the report.
OncoPac-1 Commencing Recruitment in 1QCY17
The company conducted its regular quarterly update this week.
Key points were:
The OncoPac-1 study is set to commence recruitment in 1Q CY17 at 10 prestigious oncology centres around the world, headlined by MD Anderson (Texas) and Johns Hopkins (Baltimore).
These two hospitals are ranked #1 and #9 respectively in the treatment of adult cancers in the US.
The involvement of these two institutions comes as no surprise given the breakthrough nature of the study and the absence of any recent innovation in the treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer.
Other hospital in active preparation (i.e. working through ethics approval) include five NHS hospitals in the UK and three in Australia.
The first 20 patients in the “run in” are expected to commence recruitment in early calendar 2017 and report in the second half of the year – we expect as soon as July or August 2016.
In Europe, OSL has now closed out all remaining points with the British Standards Institute following a meeting with this body earlier in November.
The BSI is responsible for recommending CE Mark Approval which will be an important step towards progressing the first commercial sale which we now expect will occur in calendar 2017.
OSL had $13.8m in cash as at 30 September 2016 which is more than sufficient to complete the first 20 patients in OncoPac-1.
The cash burn through to 30 June 2017 is expected to run at approximately $2m/qtr including the cost of the clinical trial.
Retain Buy Recommendation
The next 8 months will be a frenetic period. Even though the OncoPac-1 trial is about to commence, the risks remain high as this is a first in class device, never previously administered in the US.
The FDA and the hospitals involved will be watching carefully.
We remind investors that earlier trials of this therapy achieved a stunning 82% disease control rate.
The CEO and his team have progressed this therapy an extraordinary distance in the last 18 months and the company is now at the cusp of being into the clinic.
We retain the Buy rating.
Valuation is raised to $0.39 (from $0.33).