Probiodrug announced that it has received a $15m grant from the National Institutes of Health ("NIH") to partially fund the Phase IIb trial for PQ912, a small molecule glutaminyl cyclase ("QC") inhibitor in development for Alzheimer’s disease (“AD”). In addition to providing much needed cash, it provides a strong endorsement for the development of PQ912 in early AD, particularly taking into account that obtaining an NIH grant is a highly competitive process. Preparations for the US Phase IIb trial are ongoing and a pre-IND meeting with the FDA is in the process of being scheduled. The European Phase IIb trial is due to start anytime in 2019E once the necessary funds are obtained. Based on current cash reserves (excluding the NIH grant), Probiodrug is able to fund operations until the end of Q3/2019E. We continue to see positive risk / reward for the shares and retain our OUTPERFORM recommendation.
