We recently compiled a list of the 12 Best Small Cap Pharma Stocks to Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, plc (NASDAQ:KNSA) stands against the other small cap pharma stocks.
Impact of US Tariffs and Obesity Drug Performance on the Pharmaceutical Industry
Emily Field, Head of European Pharma Research at Barclays, spoke on CNBC on February 20 about the performance of obesity medications, the effects of US tariffs, and the dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry. According to her, the industry might not perform poorly at least in the first half of this year. The effectiveness of obesity medications is still up for debate, though, as leading companies in the field have shown inconsistent results.
Speaking about the tariffs, she stated that since some businesses assemble their products in the US after producing them overseas, their implementation raises several unanswered questions for the pharmaceutical industry. These businesses therefore have relatively low manufacturing costs, which is an important factor to take into account when assessing the effects of tariffs. She thought that these businesses could easily absorb the higher expense of the tariffs. The topic hasn’t come up much on earnings calls this quarter, and the market is nearing the end of the reporting season.
Eli Lilly’s Chief Scientific Officer spoke with CNBC’s Health and Pharma correspondent Angelica Peebles about the weight reduction industry. The domain presents opportunities for easier-to-use treatments, including tablets, and medications that help individuals lose weight, she noted based on the conversation. How much weight reduction users need to observe on top of what they already have is another topic of discussion about the subject. According to Dan Skovronsky, Chief Scientific Officer of Eli Lilly, the majority of the audience seems to benefit from medications that provide about 20% weight loss. According to him, the market for stronger medications that offer at least 25% is smaller.
He also believed that the potential benefits of these weight reduction medications for a wide range of illnesses were the most fascinating thing he had witnessed in his work as a scientist and doctor. The patterns they have been observing in the answers from patients serve as their current source of knowledge.
Our Methodology
For our methodology, we selected stocks with a market capitalization between $250 million and $2 billion and ranked them based on the highest hedge fund sentiment according to Insider Monkey’s database, as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A close-up of a scientist in a lab coat inspecting a vial of therapeutic medicine.
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, plc (NASDAQ:KNSA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 27
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, plc (NASDAQ:KNSA) is a biopharmaceutical company based in London, UK, dedicated to discovering, acquiring, developing, and commercializing treatments for patients with serious diseases that have unmet medical needs.
The emphasis Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, plc (NASDAQ:KNSA) placed on raising prescriber adoption and disease awareness showed encouraging Q3 2024 results. The fact that over 2,550 prescribers have written Arcalyst prescriptions for recurrent pericarditis since the medication’s debut in April 2021 serves as proof of this. The average total length of Arcalyst therapy for recurrent pericarditis increased to almost 27 months by the end of Q3 2024. The focus continues to be on Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, plc’s (NASDAQ:KNSA) clinical pipeline, which includes the continuing abiprubart studies for Sjögren’s disease.
Notably, Arcalyst’s rise among new and returning prescribers was sustained by continuous execution across the commercial organization, which includes deliberate investments in brand and illness awareness.
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, plc (NASDAQ:KNSA) anticipates that Arcalyst’s net sales will reach $410–$420 million by 2024. The business has been recruiting and administering medication to participants in the Phase 2b clinical trial of Abiprubart for Sjögren’s disease. It anticipates maintaining a positive cash flow each year while investing in all aspects of its operations, including pipeline development and commercialization.
Industry experts claim that commercial initiatives and disease awareness efforts have been driving up prescriber adoption. With a focus on raising illness awareness and recurrent pericarditis diagnosis, Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, plc (NASDAQ:KNSA) anticipates sustained growth in Arcalyst sales and prescriber numbers, strengthening its position among the best pharmaceutical stocks. The business is still concentrating on investing to introduce novel therapies for crippling illnesses to the market.
Overall KNSA ranks 7th on our list of the best small cap pharma stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of KNSA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than KNSA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
