Huge IPO interest and not lithium? LTR Pharma could be the next big thing on the ASX

With its innovative erectile dysfunction nasal spray treatment in advanced development, LTR Pharma is already creating serious buzz. Ahead of its ASX listing next week, the firm’s lead broker chatted with Stockhead.

Affecting more than 60% of Aussie blokes over the age of 45 and set to deflate more than 322 million men globally by 2025, erectile dysfunction (ED) is a far more common issue than you might’ve ventured to think.

LTR Pharma is very well across this and knows just how big a market and opportunity this represents, as we covered recently, here.

Now, with expectations sky high thanks to a heavily oversubscribed IPO – including strong institutional support with eight fund managers on the register – the sub-$50m microcap company is all set to list on the ASX on Monday, under the ticker LTP.

Stockhead sat down for a chat to learn more about the IPO and the product with the company’s lead broker, Phil Cawood from Alpine Capital…

Bucking the trend with a simple story

Stockhead: Hi Phil. We’ve seen a tough year for microcaps in 2023 and it’s been hard to get traction for anything much outside of lithium. Why has LTR Pharma been able to buck the trend and garner so much interest from investors?

Phil Cawood: The Interest in LTP is there because it’s such a simple story people can understand and can readily see the use case for.

You have a patent-protected product solving a very simple issue, which investors like. And you can pitch this story in one minute and everyone understands it straight away.

This is very rare when broking a new story to clients.

Timing is everything

SH: Tell us a bit about Spontan – it’s a first in the way it delivers ED treatment, correct?

PC: Yes, so LTR Pharma is commercialising Spontan, which is a first-in-class, fast-acting nasal spray treatment for erectile enhancement.

The beauty of the product is you are taking an approved ED drug [vardenafil] and using an approval delivery device [supplied by Nasdaq-listed drug-dispensing/delivery company Aptar] to administer the drug into the nose so it works in approximately 10 minutes instead of 60-90 mins.

When you have a patent-protected idea that works six times better and faster [than existing products at market], investors like that.

The market already exists and so this is just a better way for consumers to use the product. Simple and effective and understandable.

Also, LTP does not require a lot of money – hence the small raise – and the commercial upside is huge once approved.

A huge amount of interest

SH: How much demand did you see for the raise and what type of investors came into the book?

PC: There was a huge amount of interest in the raise and the deal was filled and closed very quickly.

Interest was shown from institutions, HNW [high net-worth individuals] and retail alike, which is very encouraging to see.

Strong news flow to follow ASX listing

SH: How do you see the share price trading post listing and what near-term news flow should investors look out for?

PC: IPOs have been very tricky in 2023, however, hopefully we get some good buying day one and week one.

And LTP has a lot happening quickly after listing, including:

A Bioequivalence Trial, scheduled to commence first quarter 2024 (~late February).
First patient enrolments.
First patient dosing.
Last patient dosing.
Trial results. The trial only takes five days, however, those results should be known sometime in April or May.
And then, an announcement of the first sales will be made. They’re planning for first sales under special access in Australia in the second quarter of 2024 (based on trial results).

LTR Pharma will then move immediately to apply for registration with the FDA [US Food and Drug Administration], the TGA [Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration] and the CE [Europe’s Conformité Européenne].