H.C. Wainwright initiated coverage of BiomX (NYSE American:PHGE) with a “buy” rating and $20 price target. The stock closed at $5.90 on Dec 4.
“BiomX is one of the leaders in the development of bacteriophage (phage), which are viruses that have evolutionary-based extremely high specificity for a particular strain of bacteria,” writes analyst Joseph Pantginis, Ph.D.
Dr. Pantginis said that while BiomX had already made significant progress in developing its phage pipeline, it formally announced its BOLT technology platform in November 2020. “The key to BOLT is speed of bringing personalized cocktails to patients within 12-to-18 months and completion of a Phase 2/3 trial in approximately five years from start,” he added.
The company’s lead asset cocktail, BX001, is being developed for acne and the infection caused by P. acnes. Dr. Pantginis said preclinical data showed that BX001 is active against 96% of tested C. acnes clinical strains, including antibiotic-resistant strains; is able to penetrate biofilms; and is highly specific with no effect on other skin microbiome bacteria.
Randomized Phase 1 data also showed statistically significant reductions in C. acnes, compared with placebo, he added.
Based on the significant increases in antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria and as defined clinical studies read out for phage, “it creates a ripe environment for business development activities,” Dr. Pantginis said. “To this end, we believe that the benign safety profile and strong clinical efficacy profiles of multiple cocktails in formal clinical trials should yield important partnerships going forward.”
