ProMetic Life Sciences named a top pick for Q1 by Paradigm

ProMetic Life Sciences (TSX:PLI) was one of the top performing Canadian life sciences stocks in 2015, but heading into 2016 Paradigm Capital analyst Christopher Lam thinks the company still has significant upside.
In a research report to clients today that outlined the the firm’s top picks for Q1, 2016, Lam highlighted the opportunity in ProMetic Life Sciences, which the analyst currently has a “Buy” rating and $5.50 one-year target on. Lam says the Quebec-based company is on the verge of important milestones.
“ProMetic has made significant advancements in the plasma therapeutics business segment with its orphan drug Plasminogen poised as the front runner. We expect Plasminogen to enter a final Phase II/III trial in the near term with commercial potential by early 2017,” says Lam. “Additionally, 2016 should be a critical year for ProMetic’s PBI-4050 asset. We expect the company to initiate pivotal trials for two multi-billion-dollar indications: 1) idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF); and 2) diabetic kidney disease (DKD).”
On December 17, ProMetic released guidance for fiscal 2015. The company said it expects total revenue to reach $24-million, comprised of $21-million in product sales and $3-million in service and milestone revenue. The product sales number, noted management, would represent a 94 per cent lift over the $10.8-million the company reported last year.
“Our bioseparation products are now used in the manufacture of 17 regulated biopharmaceutical products approved for sale by either the FDA or the EMA,” said COO Bruce Pritchard. “We expect revenues from bioseparations products to increase significantly over the coming years as licensees of ProMetic’s proprietary plasma manufacturing process begin to increase production. Two thousand fifteen has been the strongest year in our corporate history for sales of bioseparation products, demonstrating that this proprietary technology is still an important part of our business model, contributing to the financial needs of our Therapeutic pipeline.”