health is a good asset to have

from The Australian today:

Mesoblast (MSB)

Mesoblast’s share price has fallen slightly over the year to date, but Merrill Lynch believes the company is a good buy at current levels and sees positives in encouraging results from its mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs) injections of sheep to treat rheumatoid arthritis, with a phase 2 human trial expected by the end of the year.

Mesoblast is pushing the small-cap label now with a market cap above $1?billion, but Mr Warnes said the company is one example of a small company that has the potential to grow to be globally competitive.

“Mesoblast is in development stages at the moment, but in 10 years it could be anything,” Mr Warnes said. “It could be a global leader.”

Mr Evans is more cautious on MSB, and said people often underestimate the time and money it takes for a company such as Mesoblast to become successful.

The results of phase 2B trials for another of MSB’s treatments coupled with the high cost of phase 3, has meant its business partner has delayed announcing if and when phase 3 will go ahead, Mr Evans said. “Also, the market is intrigued to see at what size and scale the trial will be.”

The stock closed at $5.90 on Monday. The analysts’ consensus 12-month target price is $8.93.