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Cereno Scientific - CS1 shines in Phase IIa PAH trial

Cereno Scientific has reported positive top-line results for the Phase IIa CS1-003 trial, which evaluated the HDAC inhibitor CS1 in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The primary endpoint of safety and tolerability was met and, importantly, CS1 delivered encouraging results on exploratory efficacy measures, creating a strong foundation for the next steps of clinical development, in our view. The recently signed agreement with medical technology company Fluidda to visualise the impact of CS1 on the reverse remodelling of pulmonary vessels is another positive step and could bolster the data package for the candidate. With the recent preclinical data on CS014, Cereno now has two HDAC inhibitors in its portfolio with disease-modifying potential and we expect this to influence discussions with regulators, as well as potential partners. As management is planning a potentially pivotal Phase IIb/III trial, we raise our probability of success for CS1 to 40% (from 25%), resulting in our valuation for Cereno upgrading to SEK13.9/share from SEK9.1/share.