Enzon Pharmaceuticals’ (ENZN) key product Abelcet, a treatment for fungal infections, sales continued to deteriorate in 2008. Further, another major source of revenue, Royalty, is also under pressure from competition. However, sales in two other products, Oncaspar (for acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and Adagen (for severe combined immunodeficiency disease) are picking up momentum and offsetting the sales decline from Abelcet and Royalty.

We are impressed with strong sales growth of Oncaspar. We expect total revenue to remain stable or experience modest growth in the coming years while the company is progressing well with its clinical developments. Enzon is also advancing its pipeline to drive long-term growth. We maintain our Hold rating on the shares. We see a balanced risk/reward profile for Enzon. In our view, there are limited near-term catalysts to drive the shares higher.

We believe the company’s pipeline is in a show me mode, and we do not