A successful experiment for treating menopause symptoms sent the stock jumping

AbCellera, which trades on NASDAQ, announced yesterday that its non-hormonal drug for treating hot flashes in menopause significantly reduced their frequency and intensity in an experiment conducted on 92 patients. Following the experiment, the stock rose by 40% and the company is now trading at a valuation of 2.9 billion dollars. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has risen by 172%.

Participants in the experiment reported an 83% decrease in hot flashes, compared to 33% in the control group. They also reported an improvement in sleep quality. Few reported side effects such as headaches and fatigue.

75% of women in menopause suffer from hot flashes, and the main treatment used today is hormonal. It has extensive effects on the body, and in the past, there were concerns that it might increase the risk of cancer.

There are currently two non-hormonal alternatives for treating hot flashes. Veozah by Astellas, which was launched in 2023 and records annual revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars, but less revenue than expected. The drug also carries a warning label about possible liver damage. The second alternative is a drug by Bayer, Lynkuet, which was approved in 2025. The company expects peak revenues of 1 billion dollars. The mechanism by which the AbCellera drug works is similar, but not identical, to these two products — action on a brain network that regulates temperature and is damaged in the absence of estrogen. According to the current experiment, its effectiveness appears to be greater than that of the competitors. Also, the drug is given by injection once a month, compared to a daily pill for the competitors.

Additional results from the experiment are expected later, and the FDA will continue to monitor side effects. Analyst Evan Seigerman from BMO (Bank of Montreal) predicts peak revenues for the drug of more than 2 billion dollars.

The market size depends not only on which product will beat the competitors but also on what insurance coverage insurance companies will agree to give for a product intended to treat a symptom that is not considered to cause disability or be life-threatening, and is intended for such a large audience of consumers.

Psagot Sigma begins covering the biomed sector

The brokerage firm Psagot Sigma has begun publishing extensive reviews of the biomed industry, on its sub-sectors — a step that indicates that institutional bodies in Israel have returned to interest in the industry that suffered a financial blow in recent years. The person who signed the first review is the company's health analyst, Yonatan Kreizman. "In our opinion, there is no justification for broad exposure to the sector, but rather a selective choice of sub-sectors and stocks."

In the pharma sector, his recommendation is selective exposure to manufacturers of anti-obesity drugs with a GLP-1 mechanism. "The duopoly of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk is tightening with a hegemony of Lilly," he writes. Alongside them, and outside the obesity market, he notes AstraZeneca as an interesting company.

In the biotech field, Kreizman prefers the IBB index, which includes large companies, over the XBI index focused on young companies. According to him, on one hand, the patent cliff of large companies is aimed at acquisitions and mergers in the field, but the volatility and sensitivity to the interest rate environment require caution.

In medical devices, Kreizman writes that the demand for products is high, but following the anti-obesity drugs, there may be a slowdown in areas such as bariatric surgery, sleep apnea, and later perhaps orthopedics and cardiology, and he recommends staying away from the field. An exception for him is the company Edwards Lifesciences. Kreizman recommends it because it is focused on valve development, a field that is less affected by GLP drugs.

Regarding AI, Kreizman expects its impact to be two-way. On one hand, accelerating drug discovery and improving success rates in experiments, and on the other hand, lowering entry barriers for competitors. Regarding CRO companies (clinical trial management) — AI threatens the traditional model. Nevertheless, for now, Kreizman predicts excess return for this field, due to the biotech recovery and the rise in research budgets. Specifically, he recommends the stock of IQVIA, the market leader trading, in his opinion, at a low multiple.

In the midterm elections in November, a Democratic victory may stop the current cut in health insurance subsidies and research budgets, says Kreizman, and this is one of the reasons why he predicts excess return for the hospital sector in the USA. In contrast, for insurance companies, Kreizman predicts underperformance, due to the high general costs of health services.

Debt arrangement at Tikun Olam: Barak Rosen will purchase the stock shell

The court approved the creditors' arrangement in the public company Tikun Olam, the former leading cannabis company that remained with almost no activity and with a debt of 16.5 million shekels. Tikun Olam trades at a valuation of 1.8 million shekels, and its stock has lost more than 99% of its peak in 2019.

Tikun Olam, which was founded by Tzahi Cohen, dominated the market in 2008–2019 in terms of revenue and was considered to have unique knowledge in the field. Following the police's claim that Cohen has ties to criminal elements, he was required to sell the activity in Israel. Cohen's Tikun Olam continues to operate in Canada, the USA, and Greece.

The Israeli activity was purchased by the public company Canndoc, which paid 23 million dollars in 2020. Even before that, the activity in Israel was damaged, following the Ministry of Health's decision to freeze sales for several months due to quality problems. Over time, the entire Israeli cannabis industry encountered regulatory challenges, price wars, and competition from import products. To obtain funding, Tikun Olam sold the agricultural farms and its factory, and since its inception, it has burned more than 250 million shekels. In 2025, it recorded revenue of only 9 million shekels and a loss of 15.8 million.

At the end of 2023, the company announced a merger agreement for the industrial activity of businessman Ronen Elad, but it was not completed. Elad remained a shareholder in the company (4.7%), and was even appointed chairman and CEO. Now, the company will be liquidated so that the stock shell will be purchased by Barak Rosen (the controlling owner of the real estate company Israel Canada), one of the company's former owners, for 5 million shekels. What remains of the activity — mainly knowledge assets — will remain in the hands of Elad in exchange for offsetting the company's debt to him. The repayment rate to creditors, led by Bank Hapoalim, will be 40%.

The person managing the company's arrangement is Adv. Elad Afari, a partner in the insolvency department at Naschitz Brandes Amir.

In the FDA they argued, but the market has no doubt: the successful product of Israel's UroGen

Israel's UroGen, which develops cancer drugs, published good reports for the second quarter of 2026, and its stock rose by 19%. In the last year, the company's stock rose by 150%.

Its new product for treating lower urinary tract cancer (Zusduri), which was launched only in June 2025, recorded revenue of 50.4 million dollars in the second quarter of 2026, a growth of 73% compared to the first quarter. The growth rate indicates a successful launch of the drug and demand in the market, despite arguments between FDA staff and members of its advisory committee around its approval. It seems that the market has fewer doubts about the product, partly due to additional results from a Phase III experiment conducted by the company, which showed that the drug's results hold up over time.

The product's growth calmed the market after the stagnation in revenue from the company's first product, Jelmyto. UroGen itself still expects it to grow by about 3% to 7% this year.

Despite the success of the current product, UroGen still records a loss, 14.4 million dollars in the second quarter. With 108 million dollars in the bank, it is now continuing an experiment with the next generation of Zusduri, which is expected to expand the product's potential market, and there are other products in clinical trials in the pipeline. The company expects to receive patents that will extend the protection on its two commercial products until 2044, and in the meantime, it has signed an agreement with Teva, which allows it to produce a generic version of Jelmyto from 2030.