With COVID-19 Omicron surging around the globe, ASX healthcare shares are back in the spotlight.
While most don't deal with the pandemic directly, there are many health and biotechnology companies on the ASX that are plugging away quietly trying to come up with solutions to save lives or improve the quality of them.
Wilsons senior analyst Dr Shane Storey, who is a specialist in health stocks, recently picked out some ASX healthcare shares that he reckons have excellent upside.
Here are 2 with the biggest potential:
The ASX healthcare share that could rocket 86% in the new year
Immutep Ltd (ASX: IMM) is a company developing cancer immunotherapy solutions.
Its shares, like many of its biotech peers, have been wildly up and down this year.
But as of Thursday morning, they were going for 49 cents, while Wilsons has set a price target of 91 cents per share.
That's a massive 86% upside.
Immutep's technology uses what's called the LAG3 immune control mechanism for one of its solutions.
"Immuno-oncology has dramatically changed how we treat cancer and the survival outlook for patients with late-stage and metastatic disease," Storey posted on Livewire.
"LAG3 is the most advanced novel immune checkpoint target, which could see its first targeted drug approval in 1Q '22."
Kiwi business ready to stamp into the US market
New Zealand ASX healthcare share Aroa Biosurgery Ltd (ASX: ARX) deals in the area of soft tissue regeneration.
Wilsons has a price target of $1.75 for each of its shares. This is a 72% upside compared to the Thursday morning price of $1.02.
Myriad is Aroa's flagship product that can be used for soft tissue reconstruction in cases like carcinoma tumor excision, traumatic wound, and fistula.
A team of more than 20 sales staff has now been formed to market the solution in the US, according to Storey.
"The growth expected from the Myriad franchise is supported by the newly added Morcells product approved in April 2021, to complement the Myriad Matrix sheet product," he said.
"We have already seen excellent traction with Morcells and expect it to continue to contribute positively to Aroa's gross margin given it is a product manufactured from the 'scrap' or waste matrix sheeting."
He added that the products offered by Aroa are currently rare in the inpatient wound market, and this gives them a great chance for adoption.
Aroa also has a skin substitute product named Symphony, due to be launched in the first quarter of the new year.
"We anticipate Aroa can offer Symphony at a 40% to 50% discount to existing biologic skin substitutes, which typically retail at US$6,000 to US$10,000 per device."
