Earlier today, Saniona updated the market on its pipeline with some more information on priorities following the outcome of its rights issue earlier this year. Relating to SAN711, the company plans to conduct a phase I MAD/biomarker study and certain preclinical activities to “pave the way for starting a clinical proof of concept study in children with absence seizures during spring 2025”. This is because the company’s previous plan was somewhat adjusted after not receiving the full amount in the recent rights issue. We think that it is positive that the company has found a way to move forward with the project, although the ambition might be a bit lower initially. Saniona is also making good progress in the preclinical work with SAN2355.

Regarding Tesofensine’s ongoing application process in Mexico, the company states, "Saniona has provided additional information to Medix to support their documentation. Medix expects to submit the additional information and documentation to the regulatory agency in the coming weeks to continue the approval process with the aim of obtaining regulatory approval in Mexico this year.” This could indicate that the process will take a bit longer than we have expected, potentially into late 2024, but note that it has historically been difficult to guess the timeline in this process. Because of this, we have a relatively careful valuation of Tesofensine and don’t expect to make any significant changes to our estimates.

Furthermore, Saniona states that its goal is to enter into at least one new collaboration this year, with the hope of getting a significant upfront payment. As we have said before, a licensing agreement for one or several of its clinical assets would be a significant catalyst as it would accelerate the asset's development and enable further investments into Saniona’s other assets. We will return with a more thorough review of Saniona’s pipeline update in relation to the Q1 report later in May.