Shield Therapeutics plc (LON:STX) is a commercial-stage pharma company delivering specialty products that address the unmet medical need of patients with iron deficiency (ID). Since its July 2021 US launch, Shield and Viatris have increased physician awareness of the differentiating characteristics of ACCRUFeR® as an oral ID drug, in order to generate sales traction. 1H’24 results have confirmed that sales continue to progress well, while costs have been closely controlled. Management is focused on successful execution and reaffirmed its view that the gross cash position coupled with expected growth will be sufficient to see Shield through to cashflow-breakeven in 2H’25.
- Strategy: Shield Therapeutics and co-marketing partner Viatris are commercialising ACCRUFeR in the US. Elsewhere, Shield’s strategy is to out-license commercial rights to partners with appropriate expertise in target markets, which has been achieved so far in Europe, China, Republic of Korea and Canada.
- Interims: In 1H’24, sales grew 224% to $12.13m ($3.74m) on the back of strong ACCRUFeR Rx (+160%), improved pricing (+33%) and better-than-expected performance by partners (EU +80%). Consequently, the underlying EBIT loss, at $14.1m, was about $1.0m better than forecast.
- Cash management: Shield had already reported, in a trading update, that the gross cash was better than previously forecast, at $8.1m on 30 June. This excludes both the $5.7m China milestone monetisation deal with major shareholder, AOP Health, and the £0.25m/$0.32m Canada approval milestone.
- Forecasts: Recent statements have indicated a subtle change in emphasis towards ACCRUFeR sales and away from Rx growth (influenced by consignment volume) and Rx pricing (lower levels of subsidised Rx). Our full-year 2024 sales forecast has been reduced by a modest $1.0m, to $31.5m, to reflect this change.
- Investment summary: The interim results confirmed that Shield Therapeutics is continuing to move in the right direction and the new CFO has a firm grip on the cash position. ACCRUFeR Rx growth, coupled with improved pricing (lower discounting), is generating sales that are above previous (Jan’24) forecasts. While the beneficial 1H’24 working capital position is likely to unwind in 2H’24, receipt of recent milestones provides further flexibility to cash management.
