Echelon Wealth Partners launched coverage of IntelGenx (TSXV:IGX; OTCQX:IGXT) with a “speculative buy” rating and price target of $1.60 (Canadian). The stock closed at 73 cents on Oct. 29.
The firm’s flagship technology, VersaFilm, is a leading oral thin-film drug delivery platform that is adaptable to multiple drug categories and medical markets, with “several advanced pipeline candidates embedded into our revenue/EBITDA forecasts,” writes analyst Doug Loe.
These include thin-film cannabinoid formulations with leading cannabis licensed producer partner, Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY), and to other small-molecule approved therapies that are currently sold in tablet form but for which more transmucosal buccal delivery could confer more rapid onset-of-action and superior bioavailability, he added.
IntelGenx’s flagship VersaFilm formulation is a thin-film oral soluble formulation of Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) migraine pain-targeted rizatriptan formulation, Maxalt, which IntelGenx brands as Rizaport. The FDA has accepted IntelGenx’s NDA resubmission for Rizaport and a PDUFA date has been set for late March 2020.
“Our model thus assumes that Rizaport can be FDA approved and launched during the second quarter of 2020,” Mr. Loe said, adding that the drug is partnered with specialty pharmaceutical firm, Gensco Pharma.
IntelGenx also has partnered with Aquestive Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AQST) in a joint venture that will advance Aquestive’s PharmFilm-based tadalafil formulation, to be branded as Exordia. Mr. Loe said an NDA resubmission is expected in the first half of 2020.
“We are confident that a thin-film tadalafil formulation can capture sizable market share from alternative phosphodiesterase V inhibitor formulations based on pharmacokinetic superiority alone,” he said. “Our model assumes that IntelGenx can generate tadalafil-related revenue/EBITDA by the first half of 2021.
