Strategic Update

Kinarus has announced a strategic update on the way forward: its focus (and the majority of our fair value) remains on the Phase 2 studies of KIN001 in wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

As we explored in our initiation note, while wAMD is a large and highly competitive therapeutic indication, companies like Roche, Novartis and Regeneron have hit a ceiling with their drugs that target VEGF and are only making incremental improvements via drug delivery technologies. This means that there are large existing franchises that might benefit from the differentiation that an oral drug like KIN001 could bring, and the recent acquisition of ophthalmology biotech Oyster Point Pharma for about $300m validates the interest in this area.

We have made some changes to our YE 2022 financials to take into account the cash burn after the discontinuation of the KINETIC study and some prepayments before YE. Yet our fair valuation of Kinarus remains at CHF96.0m, or CHF 0.09 per share.