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August BDI-40 Up 4%, ASX200 Up 1%
Big Caps Up 14%, NBI Up 5%

 Airxpanders Up 97%, Telix 38%; Neuren Down 50%, Admedus 19%

September 3, 2018

Winter smiled on Australian biotech, with the Biotech Daily Top 40 Index (BDI-40) up 9.2 percent for the three-month season, compared to the S&P ASX200 up 5.1 percent.

 

For the month of August, the BDI-40 climbed 3.6 percent while the ASX200 put on 0.6 percent.

 

But it was again the three Big Caps of Cochlear, CSL and Resmed (which are not included in the BDI-40) which streaked ahead, up a collective 13.8 percent, with CSL up 15.6 percent to break the $100 billion mark at $102,835 million, with Resmed up 9.8 percent to $22,087 million and Cochlear up 6.4 percent to $12,448 million.

 

Twenty-one of the BDI-40 companies were up, 17 fell and two were unchanged.

 

The steep rises by Pro Medicus putting on $185 million (and joining Nanosonics and Sirtex in the Billion Dollar Plus Club), Clinuvel up $115 million and Nanosonics up $108 million easily counterbalanced the deep falls by Neuren down $135 million and Mesoblast down $118 million, amid an array of modest rises.

 

The August BDI-40 best was Airxpanders, recovering 96.6 percent to $57 million, having fallen from $323 million at September 30, 2016 to a low of $24 million at May 31, 2018.

 

Telix had a more organic improvement up 38.1 percent to $174 million, followed by Genetic Signatures (26.8%), Avita (26.2%), Pro Medicus (21.3%), Clinuvel (19.5%), Impedimed (18.95%), Volpara (13.3%), Nanosonics (11.4%), Polynovo (10.7%) and Pharmaxis (10.6%).

 

Neuren led the falls, with some investors dismayed by a $600 million deal for Trofinetide in North America, down 49.8 percent to $136 million.

 

Admedus lost 19.1 percent to $38 million prior to a trading halt and a series of extended suspensions for a capital raising, followed by Compumedics (18.9%), Prescient (16.7%), LBT (15.4%), Reva (14.7%), Mesoblast (13.0%), ITL (11.8%), Benitec (11.1%), Orthocell (11.1%), Universal Biosensors (10.6%) and Optiscan (10.3%).

 

The August Nasdaq Biotechnology Index )NBI) climbed 4.8 percent, with Queensland’s Protagonist up 43.4 percent to $284 million, Redhill up 1.8 percent to $222 million and Vaxart (Biota) unchanged at $30 million.

 

Outside the BDI-40, Adalta, Cardiex, Bluechiip, IDT, Invitrocue, Medadvisor, Paradigm, Probiotec and Resapp continued to strengthen with most double their market capitalization 12 months ago, and some up four-fold.

 

The 16 companies in Cannabis Corner were a bit potty in August, with 12 experiencing small falls, two having small rises, but Elixinol Global and TPI returned to their previous highs.

 

 

BDI-40 v S&P ASX200 Jun 30, 2006 to Aug 31, 2018 

 

Big Caps (Cochlear, CSL, Resmed) Aug 31, 2015 To Aug 31, 2018