Mesoblast Ltd (ASX: MSB) shares are trading for $2.64, down 2.94% on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is in the green today, up 0.34% at the time of writing.
The allogeneic cellular medicines developer held its annual general meeting and provided quarterly sales guidance earlier this week.
Mesoblast expects significantly higher second-quarter sales revenue due to rising demand for its flagship medicine, Ryoncil.
Ryoncil treats steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease (SR-aGvHD) in pediatric patients of two months and older.
It's the first FDA-approved mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy in the market.
The FDA approved Ryoncil in December 2024, and Mesoblast released it to commercial clinics in late March this year.
The FDA also gave Ryoncil orphan-drug exclusive approval.
That means the FDA will not approve any other MSC therapies for SR-aGvHD for at least seven years.
An orphan drug is a treatment for rare diseases, which are defined as affecting fewer than 200,000 people nationwide in the US.
For 2Q FY26, Mesoblast expects gross revenue of more than US$30 million from Ryoncil sales, up 37% from 1Q FY26.
This month, two experts have presented their case for buying and selling the ASX biotech stock.
Let's hear them out.
Bull case for Mesoblast shares
On The Bull this week, Nathan Lodge from Securities Vault revealed a buy rating on Mesoblast shares.
Lodge explains:
This regeneration therapy company offers growth momentum.
Mesoblast's lead product Ryoncil achieved meaningful revenue growth and now benefits from favourable reimbursement codes in the United States.
The company holds a strong cash position of about $US145 million and offers flexibility via a $US50 million convertible note facility to fund the next growth phase.
Company commercialisation is progressing and MSB has generated a pipeline of depth.
Bear case for ASX biotech share
On The Bull last week, Andrew Wielandt from DP Wealth Advisory put a sell rating on Mesoblast shares.
Wielandt said:
The company has been successful with its Ryoncil product since approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in late 2024.
I acknowledge research and development requires a lot of spending, but MSB has undertaken numerous capital raisings during its journey amid attracting short interest, where investors bet the share price will fall.
The share price can be volatile and has fallen from $3.35 on January 2 to trade at $2.305 on November 13.
I prefer more stable stocks.
ASIC's latest short position report shows that professional traders have short positions on 7% of the Mesoblast shares on issue today.
