The company's net profit in the third quarter reached HK $133 million, making a single-quarter profit for the first time since the company changed its name.
CDE has accepted the company's first IND (LY007, designed with α CD20 CAR-T + OX40 costimulatory signal) on November 5, and will reply within 60 days.
By accepting the technology transfer of the new crown subunit vaccine of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the company officially entered the field of COVID-19 vaccine development and large-scale COVID-19 testing promoted the performance growth in the third quarter. The company's income in the first nine months of 20 years increased nearly 12 times compared with the same period last year. In the same period, net profit became positive for the first time since 2017, reaching HK $133 million (a net profit of minus HK $62 million in the first half of 20 years). The main reasons for the improvement in profitability are: 1) the demand for testing in Hong Kong increased significantly as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic in the third quarter; 2) the company was the main beneficiary of the new crown and general inspection program organized by the SAR government in the third quarter, as of the end of September, more than 1.6 million tests were provided for Hong Kong residents; and 3) the increase in medical examination income. To promote the pipeline to the clinical declaration stage, CDE accepted the company's first IND (LY007) on November 5, and will reply within 60 days. LY007 is a chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) injection for the treatment of relapsed and refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma. LY007 aims at the target of CD20 and adopts the design of costimulatory signal combined with OX40. The company expects to begin clinical trials of LY007 in 2021. In addition, the company expects to submit IND in the pipeline from the end of 20 years to 21 years: 1) general-purpose CAR-T and 2) MAX.
Enter into the field of COVID-19 vaccine research and development
The company entered the field of COVID-19 vaccine by obtaining the technology transfer from the Institute for virus Disease Prevention and Control under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The vaccine belongs to the genetically engineered subunit vaccine and deletes novel coronavirus's harmful gene. The subunit technology is superior to the existing inactivated vaccine, mainly reflected in the convenience of production, storage and transportation. The vaccine is being tested in animals.
Valuation
The company currently has a market capitalization of just under $200 million. The market capitalization of CAR-T comparable companies in the clinical stage of listing on the main board of the HKEx ranges from US $600m to US $1.4 billion. CAR-T, a Nasdaq-listed Chinese company, currently has a market capitalization of about $3.5 billion. You can follow the IND results of the upcoming LY007.