Overall, this indicates that the company’s cost base is going down, although one should note that Q4 was marked by a significant depreciation non-related to cash flow. We learn that cost control remains a priority, with the company’s focused approach on NEX22, the Novo Nordisk evaluation agreement, and partner projects, and will be seen more in the coming quarters. Regarding the NEX-22 phase I trial, the company had some delays in the study approval process due to administrative reasons at EMA’s review system but expect to have the study started this quarter and still hopes to present relevant data this year.

At Nanexa’s capital markets day earlier this week, the company gave a broad overview of the Pharmashell technology, its three internal programs (NEX-18, NEX-20, and NEX-22), partnering projects, and the outlook for the foreseeable future. Overall, we get the impression that Nanexa is becoming a more known actor within the drug delivery industry, for example, being recognized as one of three promising drug delivery platforms at an industry conference (PODD). According to Mr Westberg, there is a big difference from three years ago. Regarding its partner projects, the company nowadays almost exclusively works with the largest pharmaceutical companies. During 2023, the company coated 11 APIs, conducted 14 preclinical studies, and saw an increased interest in coating peptides, proteins, and monoclonal antibodies in its partner projects. We think the review below gives a good overview of Nanexa's recent projects, which indicates that Nanexa seems to have consistently delivered good data in ongoing and finished projects. Still, there are several potential reasons for projects being de-prioritized by the partner.

We think there is a lot of optionality in the company’s several evaluation agreements, as we expect that one or several will lead to sharp agreements in the end.

Regarding Nanexa's in-house projects, the company presented interesting information on all its projects - for example, that it potentially has found a way to reduce local reactions with NEX-18, namely to coadminister it with a pharmashell-coated anti-inflammatory component. Furthermore, the company presented more detailed data on NEX-20 and discussed working with analytical methods to screen formulations (correlation between in-vitro and in-vivo).

Regarding NEX-22, the company gave a good overview of the expected timeline (seen below), which aligns well with our assumptions. The company plans to out-license the project, potentially already after the first clinical study, after which it expects to increase its business development activities related to the program.

Chairman Göran Ando also gave an overview of the market for GLP-1s (diabetes type 2 and obesity), highlighting that it is a remarkably fast-growing and significant market expected to reach USD100bn. The company also highlighted that Novo Nordisk, at a recent conference call, is openly interested in monthly dosing and said that it is "pursuing several different avenues in terms of infrequent dosing", likely including Pharmashell. We think that this is very exciting and clearly shows that Pharmashell could be an "enabler" in this highly topical and valuable market.

We make no significant changes to our valuation and reiterate our base case of SEK3.3 per share for now.

*Including assumed capital injection   **Including investments and working capital