8. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)
Year Perf: -58.78%
Analyst Upside: 65.71%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 35
Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapeutic compounds for treating diseases with unmet needs. Its product portfolio primarily includes EMPAVELI and SYFOVRE. SYFOVRE treats geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration (GA), while EMPAVELI treats paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).
The company’s product portfolio is helping it make significant progress towards its long-term growth, reaching key milestones such as generating continued growth in vial demand for SYFOVRE. Commercial vial demand for SYFOVRE grew by 7% quarter-over-quarter in fiscal Q3 2024. SYFOVRE also maintained its market standing with 84,500 commercial vials shipped to physicians. Net product revenue for SYFOVRE reached $152 million in fiscal Q3 2024, more than double the same period last year.
Similarly, net product revenues for EMPAVELI in the US reached approximately $24.6 million in fiscal Q3 2024. These trends reflect the potential of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:APLS) strong product portfolio, which includes two potentially blockbuster products and a promising pipeline positioning it for long-term growth. The company ranks eighth on our list of the 12 most oversold healthcare stocks to buy now.
PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund stated the following regarding Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) is a biotech company focusing on complement therapeutics. The company sells two drugs. The first is subcutaneous pegcetacoplan for the treatment of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) which was approved in 2021. The second, approved in February 2023, is Syfovre for the treatment of Geographic Atrophy (GA). Syfovre has shown compelling data out to 36 months and its launch has been going extraordinarily well. Outside of Empaveli and Syfovre, Apellis also has a growing pipeline of complement therapeutics focused on rare disease and ophthalmology. Weakness the past several months is attributed to lack of approval of Syfovre in Europe, the launch and marketing messages of a competitive drug from Astellas Pharma named Izervay, reimbursement dynamics between the two drugs and a slower than expected growth of the overall GA market. While we believe the market opportunity for GA and that growth in the treated GA patient population is large enough to support solid growth for both drugs, we have also come to appreciate that the safety issues seen with Syfove in the Summer of 2023 have complicated the marketing message for these new drugs. This has led to slower growth in the treated GA patient population than we expected, which has led us to decrease our position in Apellis. We continue to believe in the ultimate opportunity of Syfovre but have decreased our position size to more appropriately align with our updated view of the revenue growth and peak sales potential for Syfovre.”
