It looks as if the trial was a major success, paving the way for further testing and development of the product. Indeed, the study showed that the “positive response rates in key measures reported at three months after treatment in the PISCES II clinical trial were sustained at 12 months after treatment.” 

The trial also revealed that the “CTX treatment was well tolerated in both short and longer term follow-up.” 

According to the company, these findings are “highly encouraging” as they indicate that the CTX therapy has the “potential to produce meaningful and sustained improvements in disability as well as motor function in disabled stroke patients.” No other treatments with a similar goal exist. 

Development takes time

There’s still much work to do before CTX is a commercial success, but so far, findings are pointing to the conclusion that this treatment will not disappoint — great news for investors. 

Getting new treatments from the development to commercial stage is a complex, timely and costly process. Luckily it looks as if Reneuron is making substantial progress, and more importantly, the business is well-funded and supported by stakeholders. To help fund its development the company recently received a grant of £1.2m from the Welsh Government.  

Reneuron isn’t going to make its shareholders rich overnight, although, over the long term, I believe the sky is the limit for the company. 

Figures show that the annual health and social costs of caring for these patients is estimated to be more than £5bn in the UK and over $70bn in the US. If the firm’s treatment can help control these costs and improve patient quality of life, taking just a tiny share of this market could be a multi-billion pound opportunity for the company. 

Slow and steady 

Reneuron could eventually see sales of more than £1bn, but for investors who are looking for a more defensive investment, Amino Technologies (LSE: AMO) might be a better buy. 

Amino is a cash cow and management is committed to returning as much to investors as possible. Over the past five years, the firm has paid out around 22p per share in dividends to investors, which works out at around 44% of the year-end 2012 share price of 50p. Including dividends, over the past five years, the shares have returned 316%, smashing the FTSE 250’s performance over the same period of 70%. 

If Amino can keep up this steady performance, shareholders will get rich slowly. Right now the shares support a dividend yield of 3.6%, the payout is covered 2.3 times by earnings per share and the shares trade at a forward P/E of 13.3. For the fiscal year ending 30 November 2018, analysts have pencilled in a dividend per share of 7.3p giving a dividend yield of 4%. Earnings per share growth of 8% should give a forward P/E of 12.3. 

Overall, if you’re looking for a low-risk income and growth stock to help you make a million, I believe that you can’t go wrong with Amino. 

The post Two easy millionaire-maker stocks? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Rupert Hargreaves owns no share mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Financial results not pretty

The firm is a clinical-stage research company developing cell-based therapies. You have to scroll a long way down the results report — past descriptions of all the exciting research activities the firm is undertaking — before you get to the financial information.

When you get there, it’s not pretty. Revenues in the year were just £46k made up of royalties from non-therapeutic licensing activities. On top of that, the company received grant income of £0.85m. But that income is woefully short of what ReNeuron needs to keep its boffins employed with an honest income.

Escalating costs

Indeed, research and development costs increased to £16.65m from £10.27m the year before, and general and administrative expenses notched up a further £4.14m cost, up a tad from the previous year.

The bottom line is that ReNeuron increased its loss to £15.57m for the year, up from £11.35m the year before. One financial glimmer of light is that the firm still had around £53m in the bank on 31 March – and falling.

The company is notable in that the institution with the largest listed investment is Woodford Investment Management LLP. Neil Woodford and the other investors here must be hoping that ReNeuron can commercialise some of its creations before the cash runs out. If not, the firm will be back to the market for more money and the share price will continue its journey south.

Potential for spectacular outcomes

Of course, spectacular investing results can be achieved with new businesses like this. All we need is for ReNeuron to get one of its treatments through all the trial stages and it could be sitting on a hot property. Maybe a big pharmaceutical company will move in at that point and pay millions for the new product or even for the whole company, or ReNeuron could take the product to market on its own.

However, investing in ReNeuron now is a gamble because a lot could go wrong, such as how long the whole process may take, and whether an eventual finished product experiences the hoped-for demand from end users and clinicians.

Show me financial progress first

I would invest in an early-stage firm such as ReNeuron, but only after seeing evidence of an imminent change in financial fortunes, such as a major commercialisation announcement or evidence of revenues from trading and declining losses.

Instead of ReNeuron now, I’d rather invest in another Neil Woodford favourite, growing mid-cap specialist healthcare company BTG (LSE: BTG). The firm is making good progress with a number of medical treatments and has an impressive record growing its earnings each year. City analysts following the firm expect earnings per share to advance 28% for the current year to March 2018 and 15% next year.

Growth is very much still on the table and chief executive Louise Makin recently explained that double-digit product sales generating significant cash flows enable the firm to invest in product innovation, clinical data, geographic expansion and acquisition. It’s a virtuous self-funding circle that potentially leads to even more growth, and very different to the situation at ReNeuron where further funds may end up coming from investors before a commercial breakthrough happens.

The post I’d ditch ReNeuron Group plc to buy another Neil Woodford favourite appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
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• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Kevin Godbold has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended BTG. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Firstly, the company announced this morning that it has successfully developed a cryopreserved formulation of its human retinal progenitor cell therapeutic candidate, a huge milestone quickly as it will enable the cells to be frozen for shipping and storage and easily thawed at the point of clinical use. This development should significantly increase the lifespan of cell therapy treatments, which target degenerative diseases of the retina.

The new formulation has also allowed the firm to expand its clinical programmes in ophthalmology. Expansion of the company’s clinical trials to more patients is planned, and management is looking to test its existing treatment on cone-rod dystrophy patients in an attempt to diversify the business’s markets.

Alongside the above news ReNeuron, which is a favourite of star hedge fund manager Neil Woodford, also announced today that it is planning to start a randomised, placebo-controlled, Phase III clinical trial in the US and Europe in patients who are living with disability post-stroke of its CTX cell therapy candidate for stroke disability. ReNeuron received positive data from its Phase II clinical trial for this product at the end of last year and the commencement of the Phase III testing is a another step closer to commercialisation.

Unfortunately, thanks to the success of these two products, ReNeuron’s management has decided to put the programme for critical limb ischaemia on hold for the time being and concentrate on the “significant opportunity presented by our stroke disability programme and our expanded retinal disease programmes.”

Time to buy?

There’s no denying that ReNeuron has made considerable progress with the development of its early-stage treatments over the past two years. Still, as with all early-stage pharmaceutical companies, ReNeuron is a risky investment and the market’s treatment of shares in the company over the past 12 months shows just how cautious investors are about the firm’s prospects. Indeed, since the end of April 2016 shares in ReNeuron have declined by 27% and since April 2015 the shares are down 44%.

However, there may not be much more downside for the shares as at the time of writing the company’s market capitalisation is £70 million, which is only just above the £60 million of cash ReNeuron reported at the end of September 2016. 

Based on historical figures, the firm is burning around £7m in cash every six months, so it’s reasonable to assume that at the end of March ReNeuron had a cash balance of £53m, around 1.7p per share. And even though it can take several years for treatments to move through the testing process, it looks as if ReNeuron has enough cash on hand to remain solvent until its products hit the market.

The bottom line

So overall, if you’re looking for a blue sky growth company that is supported by one of the UK’s most prolific investors and has a cash rich balance sheet, ReNeuron could be a company worthy of further research.

The post This Neil Woodford favourite looks attractive after Q4 update appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• With a yield of 6.8% and a P/E ratio of 12.1, is this a dirt cheap FTSE 250 stock to consider?
• Will SpaceX, Nvidia, or Alphabet be the first $10trn stock?
• Up 95%! This FTSE 100 stock’s outperformed Nvidia over the past year
• With a 9.3% yield, is this an amazing opportunity to consider buying dirt-cheap Taylor Wimpey shares?
• How much do you need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to aim for £375 a week in retirement?

Rupert Hargreaves has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.