LUND, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:
Important events in the second quarter and after the end of the reporting period
- BioInvent received in July a milestone payment when a partner programme entered the clinical phase.
- The agreement with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for research and development of antibody drugs was extended and expanded.
- Michael Oredsson was appointed as BioInvent’s new CEO and will take up the post on 19 August.
- Preclinical data for BI-505 were published in the scientific journal Cancer Cell, showing clear anti-myeloma effects.
- The first patient was dosed in an initial phase II study of BI-505.
Key financial points
- An oversubscribed rights issue worth SEK 23 million before transaction costs was concluded in July.
- Net sales for January – June 2013 amounted to SEK 24 (21) million.
- Earnings after tax for January – June 2013: SEK -24 (-129) million. Earnings per share before and after dilution SEK -0.32 (-1.84).
- Liquid funds as of 30 June 2013: SEK 40 (186) million. Cash flow of current operations and investment activities for January – June 2013: SEK -60 (-84) million
BioInvent (STO:BINV) is a research-based pharmaceutical company focused on discovery and development of innovative antibody-based drugs against cancer. The Company also develops antibody-based drugs in collaboration with partners who finance the development of the new drug, and provide BioInvent the right to milestone payments and royalties on sales.
Comments from the CEO During the first half of the year many of the pieces in BioInvent’s new strategy fell into place. The Company’s cost levels were reduced significantly, proprietary drug development focused on the cancer area and the Company's commercial course in the form of cooperation with external partners were given a higher priority in the business. To further strengthen BioInvent’s commercial profile, the Board has recruited a new CEO, Michael Oredsson. Michael has many years of business development experience in the life sciences field and will take up the post on 19 August when I leave my position as acting CEO.
Proprietary drug development is the core of our operations and much progress was noted during the period. Our BI-505 drug candidate for the treatment of multiple myeloma entered phase II studies and we intend to sign a license agreement with an external partner as we continue with the clinical trials. Development of the two other drug candidates in the cancer area continued according to plan towards the goal of launching clinical studies in 2014 and 2015, respectively. We are also continuously developing our early research portfolio to identify new drug candidates.
The thorough review we conducted of our cost levels has had successful results. As previously communicated, our goal was for our current costs to be cut in half and balanced by revenue from our commercial operations. Today we have partnership agreements with five external partners currently involving eight projects. One project recently entered the clinical phase which resulted in a milestone payment for BioInvent. External party collaboration has many advantages – it lowers the level of risk in our business as our partners cover all development costs, it can also provide a good source of revenue in the form of milestone payments when projects enter the clinical study phase, and it confirms the strength and quality of our antibody technology.
BioInvent has now completed an oversubscribed rights issue that is providing a capital infusion of SEK 23 million before transaction costs. This creates a stronger financial platform and thus a reduced dependence of when anticipated revenues from external partners materialise. These revenues are expected to increase in the autumn and into next year although it is hard to predict exactly when.
The second half of 2013 therefore has the potential of being an exciting period on the news front; one in which our commercial activities are expected to grow in significance through our external partner collaboration. The infusion of capital from the rights issue combined with anticipated external revenues will provide the financial foundation for BioInvent to develop into a well-positioned biotech company with commercial potential in the antibody area.
Cristina Glad
Contact
Any questions regarding this report will be answered by:
BioInvent International AB (publ.) Cristina Glad, CEO, phone.+46 (0)46 286 85 51, mobile +46 (0)708 16 85 70
The Trout Grup Christine Yang, Vice President, phone +1 646 378 2929, cyang@troutgroup.com
The report is also available at www.bioinvent.com
Information disclosed in this interim report is provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 8.45 a.m. CET, on 25 July, 2013.
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