The amazing comeback of Reva Medical (ASX: RVA)

Last night's Livewire Markets posting - visit www.livewiremarkets.com. Livewire is Australia’s source of financial intelligence.

One of the reasons Life Sciences companies are in favour right now is the resilience of many companies in the sector. Take Reva Medical (ASX: RVA) as a good example. Two years ago it looked like Reva was finished. Its focus was stents - the scaffolds that prop open blood vessels - made not out of metal but from a bioresorbable polymer that would disappear after doing its job. Reva's ASX IPO was at $1.10, but after the company had abandoned its ReZolve2 stent, dissatisfied with the efficacy profile, in favour of a better, thinner stent called Fantom, the stock had dropped to 11 cents. Then Reva announced that Goldman Sachs and the Hong Kong-based Senrigan Capital would be providing convertible note funding. Reva got to work on Fantom and by May 2016 the good news was in - this stent worked as well as or better than a regular metal stent. Reva filed for CE Mark approval of Fantom last month. The company is now capitalised at A$551m and the stock is up nearly 12-fold in its 2014 lows.

Note - the usual disclaimers apply - click here.