On May 26, 2020 Selvita (WSE: SLV), one of the largest preclinical contract research organizations in Europe, reported its first quarter 2020 financial results and provided a corporate update (Press release, Selvita, MAY 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234558512]).

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The company continues its dynamic growth and reports backlog for 2020 of EUR 21,8 million, indicating a 41% increase to the values reported a year ago. The increase in the value of signed contracts in the Services segment amounted to 48%.

For the first three months of 2020, Selvita reports consolidated revenues of EUR 7 million, up by 41% on a year-on-year basis, thus confirming very good preliminary estimates published on April 29, 2020. What is quite remarkable, despite the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the company has managed to strengthen its position in the global CRO market, especially among US customers considered the largest biotechnology market in the world.

Commercial revenues in the Services Segment amounted to EUR 5.8 million in 1Q 2020, indicating a 46% increase as compared to same period previous year. The Bioinformatics Segment’s (Ardigen, where Selvita holds 54,7 percent of votes at the General Meeting of Shareholders) commercial revenues increased by 33% and amounted to EUR 0.7 million.

Company’s EBITDA profit reached EUR 1.7 million and was by 52% higher than in Q1 2019, with a profitability margin of nearly 24%. The net result increased by 92% reaching EUR 0.8 million. These results, demonstrate that Selvita has not only maintained but in fact exceed its planned rate of growth.

– We’re sticking to the plan and not slowing down our pace of development. We’re maintaining high revenue dynamics, at the same time increasing EBITDA margin, which in Q1 2020 has increased by nearly 2 p.p. The results we managed to achieve in the past quarter are particularly satisfying, due to the global economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19 pandemic. So far, it looks like Selvita successfully went through this difficult time. We implemented safety measures in order to secure the health and safety of our employees and managed to maintain business continuity in all projects. In this uncertain environment, we were able to strengthen our position among foreign customers, especially on the U.S. market. Many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have realized the need for geographical diversification of outsourced services. Selvita skillfully fits into these changing trends on the preclinical CRO market – comments Bogusław Sieczkowski, co-founder, and Chief Executive Officer at Selvita.

External revenues from the services commissioned by US customers increased in Q1 2020 by 175% and already constitute over 25% of the entire Services Segment revenues. At the same time, revenues from the services commissioned by customers from the United Kingdom increased by 74%. Services contracts from these two largest global biotech & pharma markets include both drug discovery and regulatory research. Increasing customer recognition for the high quality of services and competences offered by Selvita team results in further contracts. As on May 21, the backlog in the Service Segment amounted to EUR 18.0 million, i.e. was 48% higher than same time previous year. Out of which, nearly EUR 14.0 million concerns the services in the area of drug discovery and EUR 3.5 million in regulatory research.

– The continuously growing backlog, demonstrates that during the pandemic, despite the restrictions placed on international travel and cancelation of industry events, we are able to acquire new contracts efficiently. With most of global business activity going virtual, the geographical barriers have disappeared and we can build our position on the international market on an equal level with other providers – emphasizes Bogusław Sieczkowski.

In addition to increasing revenues, Selvita’s new strategy also assumes maintaining a stable EBITDA margin and over EUR 230 million of market cap in 2023. For this purpose, in 2020-2023, the company intends to execute investments worth up to EUR 75-90 million, which will be allocated to acquisitions and organic development.

In order to execute the strategy, Selvita plans to raise approx. EUR 21 million by issuing up to 15% of the share capital in a Follow-On offering. Approximately 80% of the proceeds will be allocated for acquisitions. One of the elements of the strategy execution will be the creation of Selvita Research Center in order to secure own research space necessary for further growth. The Company has already made a first step towards execution of this aim, and signed a preliminary contract for a plot of land in the neighborhood of its current laboratories. The initiation of the investment is planned for 2021.

On May 26, 2020 Medivir AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: MVIR) reported that its Board of Directors has appointed Yilmaz Mahshid as the new CEO of the company (Press release, Medivir, MAY 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234558511]). Yilmaz Mahshid has long and broad experience from qualified roles in the life science sector. He succeeds Uli Hacksell, who has been CEO since October 2018. Yilmaz Mahshid will assume his position in the fall. Uli Hacksell remains as a board member of Medivir.

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Yilmaz Mahshid joins Medivir from his recent position as CFO at PledPharma. He was prior to that Investment Manager at Industrifonden. He has also worked as a health care analyst at Pareto Securities and at Öhman Fondkommission. Yilmaz holds a doctorate from the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institute. He began his career as a researcher at the Karolinska Institute followed by the pharmaceutical companies Biolipox and Orexo.

– Uli Hacksell assumed leadership responsibility for Medivir as acting CEO in the fall of 2018 in conjunction with the strengthened focus on clinical cancer projects and a comprehensive restructuring of the company. Uli has invested enormous energy in shaping and developing Medivir into the company it is today. When we looked for Uli’s successor, important parameters were experience, a strong scientific foundation, knowledge and insight about the industry as well as the investor perspective. In Yilmaz Mahshid we have found what we were looking for and it is my great pleasure to welcome him to Medivir", says Helena Levander, Chairman of Medivir’s Board of Directors.

– Going forward, Uli will still be strongly involved in the company’s development in his role as board member. We are extremely grateful that he led the strategically important transformation of Medivir", continues Helena Levander.

– I believe that Yilmaz will be perfect as new CEO of Medivir. He is extremely qualified and has the background, drive and strategic thinking that our exciting company needs. I will stay on as CEO until Yilmaz takes over. Shortly after the handover I will return to function solely as a board member, but I will of course be available as a sparring partner whenever Yilmaz so wishes.", says Uli Hacksell, CEO at Medivir.

Medivir AB is obliged to make this information public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 08.30 CET on May 26, 2020.

On May 26, 2020 Debiopharm (www.debiopharm.com), a Swiss biopharmaceutical company, reported the successful exit and acquisition of their investment portfolio company Kaiku Health, a Helsinki-based digital therapeutics company specializing in improving the quality of life of cancer patients (Press release, Debiopharm, MAY 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234558510]). The acquisition made by the publicly traded, Stockholm-based company Elekta, one of the global market leaders in precision radiation medicine, enables a reach to over 4,000 oncology centers managing thousands of cancer patients worldwide with Elekta’s software suite, extending the company’s digital health offering.

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In 2018, Debiopharm became the Series A lead investor in Kaiku Health in order to support the active adoption of their technology by hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies. The investment decision aligned with Debiopharm’s vision is to invest in start-ups that change the way that patients are treated and the way that drugs are developed. The corporate fund specializes in disruptive digital health investments while actively helping the companies bring their technologies to a clinical reality.

"It’s really thrilling to see our start-up investment companies grow and move to the next step of reaching more of the patients who can benefit from their innovation," explained Tanja Dowe, CEO of Debiopharm Innovation Fund SA and former Chairwoman of Kaiku Health. "The growing patient base through Elekta will strengthen Kaiku Health’s capabilities to develop patient-centric and outcome-driven solutions for cancer patients, in some cases in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies. In the era of precision medicine, these outcomes play an important role for the development of pharmaceutical therapies."

Debiopharm remains an active investor in digital health start-ups around the world. As the chairwoman of the board, Debiopharm Innovation Fund SA CEO, Tanja Dowe provided strategic and practical guidance to sustain and grow the start-up’s network, pharmaceutical know-how and international impact.

Kaiku Health has been particularly implicated in immunooncology, where faster detection of predictive symptoms can lead to improved toxicity management. The platform offers cancer patients the ability to stay better connected to their medical team during and after therapy. This is accomplished via a user-friendly app that captures the experience and symptoms of patients through basic health-related questions. The patient-reported information allows caregivers to assess the effectiveness of treatments promptly, to detect and treat health issues early and to adapt the treatment regimen immediately if necessary and can in addition be used to improve clinical study experience. Research shows that digital monitoring can have a beneficial effect on patient health comparable to that of a new medication, revealing the potential impact of this affordable, easy-to-use technology.

"Personalized digital health intervention to every cancer patient – this has been our vision from the very beginning. Measuring what matters to patients is paramount for value-based healthcare," expressed Lauri Sippola, CEO of Kaiku Health. "We are grateful for Debiopharm’s active support in developing our digital therapeutics pipeline as our Series A lead investor in 2018. We are encouraged that through this acquisition by Elekta, that now even more patients can have the possibility to receive more personalized cancer care through Kaiku technology."

Recently, Kaiku Health’s interventions have also been implemented to support the efficient monitoring of COVID-19 patients, including a specific symptom monitoring module in co-operation with the leading Swiss university hospital group, the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG).

On May 26, 2020 Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIGL) reported that Raul Rodriguez, the company’s president and chief executive officer, is scheduled to present a company overview at the Jefferies Virtual Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time (Press release, Rigel, MAY 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234558508]).

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To access the live and subsequently archived webcast, go to the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.rigel.com. Please connect to Rigel’s website several minutes prior to the start of the live webcast to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be necessary.

On May 26, 2020 Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, and Biognosys, a leading developer of next-generation proteomics solutions, reported that they are continuing their collaboration to advance data independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry-based workflows (Press release, Thermo Fisher Scientific, MAY 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234558507]). Together, the companies have developed a workflow for accurate and flexible label-free protein quantitation and proteome profiling in plasma matrices.

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The introduction of Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Exploris 480 mass spectrometer and new Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Exploris 240 mass spectrometer, in combination with the Biognosys PQ500 kit, has driven the delivery of a streamlined, simplified workflow that provides increased depth of coverage and sensitivity for analysis of blood-derived samples. In addition, the novel FAIMS DIA method, enabled with Thermo Scientific FAIMS Pro interface, uses Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) to fractionate ionized species before analysis by the mass spectrometer, resulting in enhanced selectivity, higher reproducibility and greater proteome coverage in DIA analyses.

Quantitative analyses can be further refined using the Biognosys PQ500 kit to implement Thermo Scientific SureQuant Targeted Assay Kits, enabling the rapid quantification of 500 plasma proteins. The single workflow enables efficient development and deployment of targeted methods to streamline the discovery of new insights through quantitative proteomics in translational and clinical laboratories.

"Researchers are delving into the proteome more than ever before, opening doors into potential new therapies and study areas, but revealing complex analytical challenges to overcome," said Daniel Lopez-Ferrer, senior manager, proteomics, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "Through our ongoing collaboration with Biognosys, we are now able to offer the FAIMS-DIA and SureQuant workflows which, used in conjunction with the Biognosys PQ500 kit, simplify experimental processes."

Lukas Reiter, chief technology officer, Biognosys, said, "Our continued work with Thermo Fisher aligns with Biognosys’ overall mission of transforming life sciences with the next generation of quantitative proteomics solutions. With the Thermo Scientific FAIMS Pro interface coupled with the Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Exploris 480 mass spectrometer, Biognosys can profile more than 10,000 proteins from the human HeLa cell line with single-shot FAIMS-DIA. This corresponds to an estimated 80 percent of its expressed proteome."

Thermo Fisher Scientific will showcase outcomes of the collaboration and its newest products and software solutions in a company-hosted virtual event, vLC-MS.com, from May 26-28, 2020, and at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) Reboot Program, from June 1-12, 2020.