Für die Biotechbranche bieten die Autoimmunerkrankungen ein weites Feld für Innovationen. Der medizinischen Forschung sind aktuell mehr als 100 verschiedene Autoimmunerkrankungen bekannt, die sich in den Nerven, den Organen und in den Muskelgeweben verbreiten können. Nach den Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen und Krebs sind sie die häufigste chronische Erkrankungsform. 5% bis 8% der Bevölkerung sind weltweit davon betroffen.
Die Gründe für die Zunahme von Autoimmunerkrankungen sind vielfältiger Natur. Umweltfaktoren, überaktivierte Immunantworten und genetische Ursachen können die Krankheitsauslöser sein. Mangels verfügbarer Behandlungsoptionen besteht der grösste medizinische Bedarf bei Nischenerkrankungen. Anders ist das Bild bei chronischen Erkrankungen wie rheumatoide Arthritis, Psoriasis (Schuppenflechte) und multipler Sklerose (MS), von denen weltweit Millionen Menschen betroffen sind. Angesichts der Vielzahl an zugelassenen Produkten – darunter auch Generika und Biosimilars zu Wirkstoffen, bei denen der Patentschutz abgelaufen ist – wird es hier immer schwieriger, innovative Produkte mit einem verbesserten Wirkprofil zu entwickeln.
Innovationslabor multiple Sklerose
Die medizinischen Fortschritte in der Behandlung von MS während der letzten 30 Jahre nehmen eine Vorreiterrolle ein, wie sich eine Autoimmunerkrankung immer wirksamer behandeln und auch kontrollieren lässt. Mehr als 20 MS-Arzneien sind mittlerweile auf dem Markt. Waren anfänglich Arzneien verfügbar, die bei ambulanten Klinikaufenthalten intravenös verabreicht werden, können Patienten mittlerweile die Arzneien selbstständig als Tablette oder subkutan mit Injektionspen zu sich nehmen. Zugleich hat sich das Therapieziel auf das Verhindern und Verzögern weiterer Krankheitsschübe konzentriert. Zwei Drittel aller MS-Patienten beginnen spätestens ein Jahr nach der Diagnosestellung mit der medizinischen Behandlung. Beim Fortschreiten der Krankheit zeigt dieses Nutzen des «Window of Opportunity» eindrucksvolle Erfolge. War die Mobilität der Patienten in den achtziger Jahren zehn Jahre nach dem Auftreten von MS so weit eingeschränkt, dass sie auf einen Rollstuhl angewiesen waren, so hat sich dieses Intervall mit anhaltend stabiler Lebensqualität jetzt auf 30 Jahre verlängert.
Dank der Fortschritte in der medizinischen Forschung befinden sich immer mehr therapeutische Ansätze, die bei den krankheitsauslösenden molekularen Prozessen ansetzen, in der klinischen Entwicklung. Einen grossen Durchbruch gab es in den letzten zwei Jahren bei Myasthenia gravis, einer seltenen neuromuskulären Erkrankung, bei der fehlgesteuerte Antikörper die Kommunikation zwischen Nerven und Muskeln unterbinden und die Muskelmembran schädigen. Die Folge sind Muskelschwäche mit Atem-, Schluck- und Sprechbeschwerden.
Grosser Durchbruch bei Argenx …
Wir haben mit Beteiligungen in unserem Portfolio frühzeitig den klinischen und kommerziellen Fortschritten bei Therapien gegen Autoimmunerkrankungen Rechnung getragen. Aktuell sind es drei Portfoliofirmen mit dem Fokus Autoimmunerkrankungen. Mit einem Anteil von 10.3% an den Wertschriften zum Ende des 3. Quartals 2022 ist das belgische Unternehmen Argenx aktuell unsere zweitgrösste Portfolioposition. Die ersten Positionen, die wir Anfang 2018 aufbauten, stockten wir innerhalb von zwölf Monaten auf. Seitdem hat sich die Marktkapitalisierung von Argenx auf EUR 20 Mrd. mehr als verfünffacht. Stand Ende September 2022 hat BB Biotech damit eine absolute Wertsteigerung von USD 277.6 Mio. erzielt.
Zum Zeitpunkt unseres Einstiegs waren wir vom kommerziellen Erfolg des Antikörpers Efgartigimod in der Behandlung von generalisierter Myasthenia gravis überzeugt. Inzwischen ist die Substanz unter dem Markennahmen Vyvgart in den USA, Europa und in Japan als erstes Präparat überhaupt zur Behandlung dieser neuromuskulären Erkrankung zugelassen. Dabei handelt es sich um eine biologische Substanz mit immunmodulierender Wirkung, die sich vom Fc-Abschnitt des humanen Immunglobulins G1 (IgG1) ableitet. Weil sie dreimal kleiner ist als herkömmliche Antikörper, kann sie leichter in Gewebe eindringen und mit niedrigeren Dosierungen verabreicht werden. Neueste klinische Ergebnisse dokumentieren, dass die subkutan verabreichte Version von Vyvgart von ihrer Wirkung nicht schlechter ist als die intravenöse Verabreichung, welche die Grundlage für die bisherige klinische Zulassung bildet.
Im laufenden Geschäftsjahr verzeichnet Argenx deutlich steigende Quartalsumsätze. Die Gesamterlöse lagen im 3. Quartal bei USD 227.3 Mio. und damit um 76% über dem Vorquartal. Bei den aktuellen Wachstumsraten wird Vyvgart 2023 Milliardenerlöse einfahren. Dieser fulminante Start könnte aber nur der Auftakt für weiteres Wachstum darstellen. Die grosse Chance bei Efgartigimod besteht darin, denselben Wirkmechanismus auf fünf weitere Autoimmunerkrankungen auszuweiten, so etwa für Immunthrombozytopenie (ITP), eine Blutungsstörung, die durch den Rückgang der Blutplättchen verursacht wird. Schafft Argenx die Zulassung in allen anderen Indikationen, schätzen wir das jährliche Umsatzpotenzial auf USD 8 bis 10 Mrd.
… und zwei Newcomer mit Potenzial
Das US-Unternehmen Celldex Therapeutics ist seit dem 2. Quartal 2022 im Portfolio von BB Biotech. Spannend bei Celldex ist der am weitesten fortgeschrittene klinische Kandidat Barzolvolimab (CDX -0159). Dabei handelt es sich um den ersten Antikörper-Wirkstoff, der die Aktivierung von Mastzellen hemmen soll. Mastzellen speichern im körpereigenen Immunsystem Botenstoffe wie Histamin. Zugleich wirken sie wie ein Brandbeschleuniger für die Stimulation von IgE-Rezeptoren durch das in den B-Zellen produzierte Immunglobulin E, welches sich auf der Oberfläche von Mastzellen vor allem in den Schleimhäuten festsetzt und damit Allergien, Angioödeme und die Hautkrankheit Urtikaria auslöst. Aktuell befindet sich CDX-0159 zur Behandlung von chronischer Urtikaria in der klinischen Phase II. Potenziell möglich im klinischen Erfolgsfall ist eine Indikationserweiterung auf weitere Haut- wie auch auf Magen-Darm-Erkrankungen.
Unsere Portfoliofirma Kezar Life Sciences, in der wir seit 2018 investiert sind, will ihr am weitesten fortgeschrittenes Produkt KZR-616 als Therapie gegen drei verschiedene Autoimmunerkrankungen entwickeln, für die es bislang noch keine adäquate Behandlung gibt. KZR-616 aus der Klasse der Immunproteasom-Inhibitoren soll die Produktion von entzündungsfördernden Zytokinen verhindern und gleichzeitig die Aktivität von regulatorischen T-Zellen erhöhen. Klinische Wirksamkeitsstudien sind gegen autoimmmune Hepatitis, Dermatomyositis und Polymyositis sowie gegen Lupus-Nephritis am Laufen. Lupus-Nephritis ist eine oft lebensbedrohliche Autoimmunerkrankung der Nieren, deren einzige – und häufig unzureichende – Behandlungsoptionen zurzeit Immunsuppressiva sind. Kezar hat hier erste klinisch bedeutsame Reaktionen der Nieren publiziert.
Wir erwarten, dass die Autoimmunerkrankungen in Zukunft einen hohen medizinischen Bedarf an differenziert wirkenden Arzneien adressieren. Der gesamte Biotechsektor wird getrieben von klinischen Ergebnissen und einer anhaltend hohen Zahl an Produktzulassungen, die auch im nächsten Jahr sein nachhaltiges und starkes Umsatz- und Gewinnwachstum fortsetzen. Die weiterhin attraktiven Unternehmensbewertungen eröffnen hier interessante Investmentchancen.
Marktkommentar von Dr. Daniel Koller, Leiter Investment Team BB Biotech.
To continue please select your investor category and your country of residence.
Select your Country:
Qualified Investor
QUALIFIED INVESTOR ACCORDING TO ART. 10 PARA. 3,
3BIS AND 3TER
- regulated financial intermediaries such as banks, securities traders,
fund management companies and asset managers of collective
investment schemes, as well as central banks;
- regulated insurance institutions;
- public entities and retirement benefits institutions with professional
treasury operations;
- companies with professional treasury operations;
- High-net-worth individuals may declare in writing that they wish to be
deemed qualified investors;
- Investors who have concluded a written discretionary management
agreement as defined in Article 3 Paragraph 2b and c unless they
have declared in writing that they do not wish to be deemed as such.
INDEPENDENT ASSET MANAGERS ACCORDING
TO ART. 3 PARA. 2 LIT C TO THE EXTENT THAT:
(i) The asset manager as a financial intermediary is according
to Article 2 Paragraph 3 littera e subject to the Money
Laundering Act of 10 October 1997;
(ii) The asset manager is subject to a professional code of
conduct which is recognized as a minimum standard by the
supervisory authority, and
(iii) The asset management contract contains the recognized
guidelines of a professional organization which are recognized
as a minimum standard by the supervisory authority.
Legal Notes
General Information
This website belongs to Swiss Fund Platform Ltd, a company based in Switzerland (hereafter referred to as "Swiss Fund Platform"). The sole purpose of the website is to provide information. No information published on this website constitutes an offer, a request or a recommendation to buy or sell any investment instruments. Users of the Swiss Fund Platform website are aware that Swiss Fund Platform Ltd. and the fund providers mentioned on this website are mutually independent from each other and therefore do not act as agent, employee, associate, guarantor or licence provider for each other. Although Swiss Fund Platform takes all reasonable care to ensure that the information on this website is correct at the time of publication, the company makes no representation or warranty (including liability towards third parties), express or implied, regarding the correctness, reliability or completeness of the information provided. The information provided on the Swiss Fund Platform website may be modified at any time without prior notice. The posting of any information on the website should not be understood to imply that there has not been any change in the affairs since the date on which the information was filed with the relevant regulatory authority or published or that the information is accurate at any time subsequent to the date on which it was published. Some links on the Swiss Fund Platform website lead to third-party websites, which are completely beyond the control of Swiss Fund Platform. Accordingly, the company do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or legality of the contents of such websites, or for any offers and services contained. This disclaimer may be updated at any time. Therefore, Swiss Fund Platform advises you to read through this disclaimer regularly to ensure that you are informed of any changes. The date on which this disclaimer was last updated is given below.
By accessing the Swiss Fund Platform website or using any information provided on this website (for personal use or for third parties), you signify your agreement to the terms of use below.
Access Restrictions By Residence And Investor Category
Swiss Fund Platform website is intended exclusively for qualified investors according to Art. 10 Para. 3, 3bis and 3ter of the Swiss Federal Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) and independent asset managers as per Art. 3 Para. 2 lit c CISA with country of residence in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Considered as qualified investors according to Art. 10 Para. 3, 3bis and 3ter CISA are:
- regulated financial intermediaries such as banks, securities traders, fund management companies and asset managers of collective
investment schemes, as well as central banks;
- regulated insurance institutions;
- public entities and retirement benefits institutions with professional treasury operations;
- companies with professional treasury operations;
- High-net-worth individuals may declare in writing that they wish to be deemed qualified investors;
- Investors who have concluded a written discretionary management agreement as defined in Article 3 Paragraph 2b and c are deemed
qualified investors unless they have declared in writing that they do not wish to be deemed as such.
Considered as independent asset managers according to Art. 3 Para. 2 lit c CISA are:
Independent asset managers to the extent that:
(i) The asset manager as a financial intermediary is according to Article 2 Paragraph 3 littera e subject to the Money Laundering Act of 10
October 1997;
(ii) The asset manager is subject to a professional code of conduct which is recognized as a minimum standard by the supervisory authority,
and
(iii) The asset management contract contains the recognized guidelines of a professional organization which are recognized as a minimum
standard by the supervisory authority.
When accessing the Swiss Fund Platform website for the first time, users are asked to specify their country of residence and their personal investor category. Swiss Fund Platform website is intended exclusively for qualified investors and independent asset managers with country of residence in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. All other persons are not authorized to access this website.
No Offer / No Obligation
Information and documents available through Swiss Fund Platform website are in general provided by the fund providers and are for personal use and information only. The information and documents may be modified at any time without prior notice. The companies make no representation, express or implied, that the information and documents published on the website are accurate, complete or up to date. In particular, the companies shall not be obliged to remove any outdated information from the Swiss Fund Platform website or to expressly mark it as being outdated. Nothing contained on the Swiss Fund Platform website constitutes financial, legal, tax or other advice, nor should any investment or any other decisions be made solely based on the website content. Investments in anyof the investment funds described on the Swiss Fund Platform website should only be made after carefully studying the corresponding fund prospectus, simplified prospectus and annual or semiannual report including all the legal information therein. You should obtain advice from a qualified expert before making any investment decision.No information published on this website constitutes an offer, a request or a recommendation to buy or sell any investment instruments or to conclude any other transactions or any legal act whatsoever.
Performance
The future performance of investment funds cannot be deduced from previous performance, i.e. the value of an investment may fall as well as rise. Therefore, good performance in the past does not guarantee good performance in the future. The performance shown does not take any account of any commission and costs which may be charged when subscribing for units or redeeming them. Commission and costs of this kind have a detrimental impact on performance. Should the currency in which the performance is presented not match the reference currency of the investor, this will result in additional risks from fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which may have a positive or negative influence on the value of the investment. Therefore, Swiss Fund Platform cannot guarantee that any capital invested will maintain its value or increase in value.
Intellectual Property Rights Of Swiss Fund Platform
The entire content of the Swiss Fund Platform website is subject to copyright with all rights reserved by Swiss Fund Platform or by the suppliers of the corresponding investment funds. If on this website names or logos of fund providers or other companies are reproduced, this is with explicit authorization of the proprietary of the intellectual property rights. You may save or print out a hard copy of individual pages and/or sections of the Swiss Fund Platform website provided that you do not remove any copyright or other proprietary notices. With any saving or otherwise copying from the Swiss Fund Platform website, the terms and conditions for use shall be deemed to have been accepted. All property rights shall remain with Swiss Fund Platform or with the suppliers of the corresponding investment funds. You may not reproduce (in whole or in part), transmit (by electronic means or otherwise), modify, link to or use for any public or commercial purpose the Swiss Fund Platform website without the prior written permission of the companies. Nothingon the Swiss Fund Platform website shall be construed as granting any licence or right to use any image, trademark, logo or software. Downloading or copying this website or parts thereof shall not transfer any title to you. Swiss Fund Platform or the fund providers supplying fund information or documents reserve all rights (in particular with respect to copyright andtrademark ownership) to all material on the Swiss Fund Platform website and will enforce their rights to the full extent of the law.
No Recommendation / Possible Conflicts Of Interest
No information about investment funds published on the Swiss Fund Platform website constitutes a recommendation list. It is only a list of investment funds for which Swiss Fund Platform administers the payments of trailer fees. Swiss Fund Platform and/or their boards of directors, executive management and employees are in principle independent of the fund providers or investment funds. They may have or have had interests in the listed investment funds or have or have had positions in the securities held by them. Furthermore, such entities or persons may have or have had a relationship with or may provide or have provided other services to or serve or have served in the executive bodies of relevant fund providers or companies. Swiss Fund Platform receives a fee for the administration of the payments of the trailer fees.
DATA PROTECTION
Based on Article 13 of the Federal Constitution and the provisions of federal data protection legislation, everyone has the right to the protection of their privacy, as well as to protection from misuse of their personal details. We comply with these provisions. Personal data is treated as strictly confidential and is neither passed on nor sold to third parties. In close cooperation with our hosting provider, we make every effort to protect the databases as well as possible from outside access, data loss, misuse or falsification. When you access our websites, the following data is stored in log files: IP address, date, time, browser request and general information on the operating system and browser. This usage data forms the basis for statistical, impersonal evaluations for the purpose of tracking trends so that we can improve the information on offer.
PRIVACY POLICY FOR USAGE OF FACEBOOK-PLUGINS (LIKE-BUTTON)
Our pages integrate plugins of the social network Facebook, 1601 South California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. You can recognize Facebook-plugins by the Facebook-Logo or the addition "Facebook Social Plugin" or the "Like-Button" ("Like") on our pages. You can find an overview of Facebook-plugins here: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/. When visiting our pages, the plugin establishes a connection between your browser and the Facebook-server. Thereby Facebook gains information on the fact that you visited our site by your IP-address. If you interact with the plugins, e. g. you click on the Facebook "Like-Button" or enter a comment, while being logged on to your Facebook-Account, you link the contents of our pages to your Facebook-profile. Thereby Facebook can correlate your visit of our site with your user account. We point out that we as provider of the pages do not have any knowledge of the content of the transmitted data as well as no knowledge of its usage by Facebook. You can find more information on that issue in the privacy policy of Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/. If you do not want to have Facebook correlate your visit on our site with your Facebook-account, please log out from your Facebook-account.
PRIVACY POLICY FOR USAGE OF TWITTER
Our pages integrate functionality of the service Twitter. These functionalities are provided by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. By using Twitter and the function "Re-Tweet" the websites you visited get correlated with your Twitter-account and get displayed to other users. Thereby data gets transmitted to Twitter. We point out that we as provider of our pages do not have any knowledge about the content of the data transmitted and also do not have any knowledge about its usage by Twitter. You can find further information on this topic in the privacy policy of Twitter found at http://twitter.com/privacy. You can change the privacy settings in the settings of your Twitter-account at http://twitter.com/account/settings. For questions please contact privacy@twitter.com.
PRIVACY POLICY FOR USAGE OF GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Our website uses Google Analytics, a service for web analysis of Google Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics utilizes so-called "Cookies", text files that are stored on your computer. Cookies permit analysis of your usage of our website. Information created by your usage of our website (including your IP-address) gets transmitted to a server of Google in the USA and will be stored there. Google will use that information to evaluate your usage of our website and to generate reports on website activity for the provider of the website and to provide further services related to usage of websites and the internet. Furthermore Google will transmit this information to third parties as far as it is statutory or as far as a third party processes the information on behalf of Google. By no circumstances will Google correlate your IP-address with other data of Google Inc. You can prevent installation of cookies by a corresponding setting of your browser software; but we point out that in this case you might not use all functionality of our website to the full extent. By using this Website you comply with informational data on you being collected and processed by Google in the way described above and for the purposes described above.
Local Legal Restrictions
The Swiss Fund Platform website contains information and documents regarding numerous investment funds and is intended for qualified investors in Switzerland and Liechtenstein only. The Swiss Fund Platform website is not directed to any person in any jurisdiction where (by reason of that person's nationality, tax residence or otherwise) the publication or availability of the Swiss Fund Platform website is prohibited. Persons in respect of whom such prohibitions apply must not access the Swiss Fund Platform website.Fund information and documents are provided either by Swiss Fund Platform or by the fund providers themselves. If the information and documents are published on the Swiss Fund Platform website by the companies, then they will rely on the information provided by the fund providers regarding distribution licences for the investment instruments. Swiss Fund Platform does not guarantee the accuracy of information on distribution authorisation and can therefore not be made liable for incorrect data/information. If the in-formation and documents are uploaded to the Swiss Fund Platform website directly by the fund providers, the fund providers shall be responsible for obtaining the necessary distribution licences.
Limitation Of Liability
Fund information and documents are published on the Swiss Fund Platform website either by Swiss Fund Platform or by the various fund providers directly. Under no circumstances shall Swiss Fund Platform be held liable for any direct, indirect or consequential damages whatsoever resulting from use of the fund information or documents, from access to the Swiss Fund Platform website or from links to third-party websites. Furthermore, the company disclaim all liability for any tampering with the Internet user's computer system by unauthorized parties.
Zurich, 3rd February 2014
12/08/2022
Bellevue Asset Management AG