Hanyang Securities analyzed on the 18th that IMBDX's ‘CancerFind’ product, which can detect cancer early through blood sampling, appears to have significant potential and that the current stock price is undervalued. No investment opinion or target price was provided.
IMBDX is a specialized company in cancer liquid biopsy. Liquid biopsy is a technology that diagnoses cancer through blood. Typically, cancer is examined using tissue biopsy, CT, MRI, endoscopy, etc., but these methods have drawbacks such as inconvenience, high cost, and time consumption. Recently, technology that accurately screens cancer using only blood (liquid biopsy) is becoming a trend, and IMBDX is a leading Korean company in this field.
Byungyong Oh, a researcher at Hanyang Securities, stated, “All three products of IMBDX seem commercially viable, but among them, the potential of ‘CancerFind,’ which targets the general population rather than specific patients, appears substantial,” and introduced it as “a product that can detect early-stage cancer of eight major cancers, including pancreatic cancer, with a single blood draw.”
Researcher Oh analyzed, “Most adults undergo regular health check-ups, but general screenings cannot perform early detection of cancers that are difficult to examine, such as pancreatic, liver, and lung cancers,” and added, “Therefore, there is a significant unmet demand for a simple method of early cancer diagnosis.”
He explained, “The company’s ‘CancerFind’ uses AI to comprehensively analyze minute amounts of cancer DNA, methylation, and copy number in the blood to determine the presence of cancer,” adding, “The average cancer screening accuracy (sensitivity) is 86%, and the accuracy of predicting cancer location is 84%. Although the cost is somewhat high at around 1 million KRW, it is expected to be a very attractive method for elderly people who are highly interested in health and want early cancer screening.”
He also noted, “‘CancerFind’ was launched in November last year and is not yet being promoted,” and predicted, “The impact will be significant once it becomes known to the public.”
In particular, he anticipated the possibility of supplying to the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. He explained, “The cancer gene mutation diagnostic product ‘AlphaLiquid’ is currently used for prescribing AstraZeneca’s prostate cancer treatment ‘Lynparza,’” and added, “In regions outside the US and Europe, before ‘Lynparza’ is prescribed, patients’ cancer mutations (HRR) are identified using ‘AlphaLiquid’ to select patients.”
He analyzed, “AstraZeneca directly purchases and uses IMBDX’s ‘AlphaLiquid’ for each test, which is evidence that the liquid biopsy technology is recognized globally,” and added, “Moreover, since AZ has many anticancer drugs, there is also a possibility that the company’s products will be supplied as companion diagnostics for other new drugs.”
Furthermore, he stated, “IMBDX was listed in April with a public offering price of 13,000 KRW. The current stock price is trading below the offering price, and the market capitalization is 173.3 billion KRW,” and analyzed, “Compared to similar companies such as Genomictree (market cap 538.4 billion KRW), which has early detection products for colorectal and bladder cancer, and Cytogen, a CTC liquid biopsy company (market cap 219.7 billion KRW), it is at a relatively low level.”
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