Medpace Holdings, Inc. to Report First Quarter 2020 Financial Results on April 28, 2020

On April 3, 2020 Medpace Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:MEDP) ("Medpace") reported that it will report its first quarter 2020 financial results after the market close on Tuesday, April 28, 2020 (Press release, Medpace, APR 3, 2020, View Source [SID1234556129]). The Company will host a conference call the following morning, Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. ET to discuss these results.

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To participate in the conference call, dial 800-219-7113 (domestic) or 574-990-1030 (international) using the passcode 5203559.

To access the conference call via webcast, visit the "Investors" section of Medpace’s website at investor.medpace.com. The webcast replay of the call will be available at the same site approximately one hour after the end of the call.

A supplemental slide presentation will also be available at the "Investors" section of Medpace’s website prior to the start of the call.

A recording of the call will be available from 12:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 until 12:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 13, 2020. To hear this recording, dial 855-859-2056 (domestic) or 404-537-3406 (international) using the passcode 5203559.

Nevro Announces the Full Exercise of the Underwriter’s Option to Purchase Additional Common Stock and the Underwriter’s Over-allotment Option to Purchase Additional Convertible Senior Notes

On April 3, 2020 Nevro Corp. ("Nevro") (NYSE: NVRO), a global medical device company that is providing innovative, evidence-based solutions for the treatment of chronic pain, reported that the underwriter of each of Nevro’s previously announced concurrent public offerings of (a) 1,625,000 shares of its common stock (the "common stock offering") and (b) $165,000,000 aggregate amount of its 2.75% convertible senior notes due 2025 (the "initial notes") (the "notes offering") has fully exercised its option to purchase an additional (a) 243,750 shares of Nevro’s common stock at a public offering price of $84.00 per share, less underwriting discounts and commissions, and (b) an additional $24,750,000 aggregate amount of notes (the "additional notes" and, collectively with the initial notes, the "notes"), less underwriting discounts and commissions (Press release, Nevro, APR 3, 2020, View Source [SID1234556130]). Following the full exercise of the underwriter’s option, Nevro anticipates selling an aggregate of 1,868,750 shares of its common stock, with total gross proceeds of approximately $157.0 million before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses, and $189,750,000 aggregate amount of notes, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. The offerings, including the common stock and additional notes that are part of the option exercise, are expected to close on April 6, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

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The notes will be senior, unsecured obligations of Nevro, and will bear interest at a rate of 2.75% per year. Interest will be payable semi-annually in arrears on April 1 and October 1 of each year, beginning on October 1, 2020. The notes will mature on April 1, 2025, unless earlier repurchased or converted. Nevro may not redeem the notes, and no sinking fund is provided for the notes. Holders of the notes will have the right to require Nevro to repurchase all or a portion of their notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the indenture governing the notes) at a cash purchase price of 100% of their principal amount plus any accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date.

The notes may be converted at an initial conversion rate of 9.5238 shares of Nevro’s common stock per $1,000 principal amount of notes (which is equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $105.00 per share and represents a conversion premium of 25.0% to the public offering price of Nevro’s common stock in the common stock offering). Prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding October 1, 2024, the notes will be convertible at the option of the holders of the notes only upon the satisfaction of specified conditions and during certain periods. On or after October 1, 2024 until the close of business on the second scheduled trading day preceding the maturity date, the notes will be convertible at the option of the holders of notes at any time regardless of these conditions. Conversions of the notes will be settled in cash, shares of Nevro’s common stock or a combination thereof, at Nevro’s election.

In connection with the exercise of the underwriter’s option to purchase additional notes, Nevro entered into privately-negotiated convertible note hedge transactions with the underwriter and/or its affiliate and/or other financial institutions (the "option counterparties"). These transactions cover, subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments, the number of shares of Nevro’s common stock that will initially underlie the additional notes, and are expected generally to reduce the potential equity dilution, and/or offset any cash payments in excess of the principal amount due, as the case may be, upon conversion of the additional notes. Nevro entered into separate, privately-negotiated warrant transactions with the option counterparties at a higher strike price relating to the same number of shares of Nevro’s common stock, subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments, pursuant to which Nevro will sell warrants to the option counterparties. The warrants could have a dilutive effect on Nevro’s outstanding common stock to the extent that the price of Nevro’s common stock exceeds the strike price of those warrants. The strike price of the warrants will initially be $147.00 per share, which represents a premium of approximately 75% over the public offering price of Nevro’s common stock in the common stock offering, and is subject to certain adjustments under the terms of the warrant transactions.

Morgan Stanley is acting as bookrunning manager for the offerings.

Nevro has been advised that in connection with establishing their initial hedges of the convertible note hedge and warrant transactions, the option counterparties or their respective affiliates expect to enter into various derivative transactions with respect to Nevro’s common stock. This activity could increase (or reduce the size of any decrease in) the market price of Nevro’s common stock or the notes at that time. The option counterparties or their respective affiliates may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivatives with respect to Nevro’s common stock and/or purchasing or selling Nevro’s common stock or other securities of Nevro in secondary market transactions from time to time prior to maturity of the notes (and are likely to do so during any observation period related to a conversion of the notes).

The potential effect, if any, of these transactions and activities on the market price of Nevro’s common stock or the notes will depend in part on market conditions and cannot be ascertained at this time, but any of these activities could adversely affect the value of Nevro’s common stock, which could affect the ability to convert the notes, the value of the notes and the amount of cash, if any, and the number of and value of the shares of Nevro’s common stock, if any, holders would receive upon conversion of the notes.

Nevro intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from the sale of additional notes, together with the proceeds from the sale of additional warrants, to enter into additional convertible note hedge transactions with the option counterparties. Nevro expects to use the remainder of the net proceeds from the sale of additional shares of its common stock and the additional notes for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of its 1.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021 (the "existing convertible notes") at maturity and Nevro may use a portion of the remaining net proceeds to repurchase a portion of the existing convertible notes prior to their maturity.

A shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (including a base prospectus) relating to the common stock offering and the notes offering was automatically declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Preliminary prospectus supplements related to each of the common stock offering and the notes offering (together with such base prospectus, each a "prospectus"), have been filed with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website located at www.sec.gov. Copies of the prospectus relating to the common stock offering and the notes offering may be obtained, when available, from: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014.

Haemonetics Sets Date for Publishing Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2020 Results: May 5, 2020

On April 3, 2020 Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE: HAE) reported that the Company intends to publish fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 financial results at 6:00 am EDT on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 (Press release, Haemonetics, APR 3, 2020, View Source [SID1234556131]). The Company will hold a conference call with investors and analysts to discuss results and answer questions at 8:00 am EDT on May 5, 2020.

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The call can be accessed with the following information:

U.S. / Canada toll free (877) 848-8880; International (716) 335-9512
Conference ID required for access: 7365511

A live webcast of the call can be accessed on Haemonetics’ investor relations website. Webcast Link: View Source

Webcast replay will be available from May 5, 2020 after 11:00 am EDT.

Fate Therapeutics Announces Worldwide Collaboration with Janssen for Novel iPSC-derived Cell-based Cancer Immunotherapies

On April 2, 2020 Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, reported a global collaboration and option agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (Press release, Fate Therapeutics, APR 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234556097]).

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Under the multi-year collaboration agreement, Janssen will contribute proprietary antigen binding domains for up to four tumor-associated antigen targets. The Company will apply its iPSC product platform to research and preclinically develop new iPSC-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) NK and CAR T-cell product candidates. The Company will receive $50 million in cash and $50 million from the purchase by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. of newly issued shares of the Company’s common stock at a price per share of $31.00. Janssen will also reimburse the Company for all activities conducted under the collaboration.

"We are delighted to enter this strategic collaboration, which brings together Janssen’s scientific and global commercialization leadership, deep domain expertise in oncology and proprietary technologies for targeting and binding certain tumors and our industry-leading iPSC product platform to develop novel off-the-shelf CAR NK and T-cell cancer immunotherapies," said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics. "The collaboration strengthens our financial and operating position through a focused effort of developing cell-based cancer immunotherapies utilizing Janssen’s proprietary antigen binding domains, while enabling us to continue to exploit our deep pipeline of wholly-owned product candidates and further develop our off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived cell-based immunotherapies."

The Company will advance candidates under the collaboration to the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application, after which Janssen will have the right to exercise its option for an exclusive license for the development and commercialization of collaboration candidates targeting the tumor-associated antigens. The Company will be primarily responsible for the manufacture of collaboration candidates, the cost of which will be paid for by Janssen. The Company is eligible to receive payments of up to $1.8 billion upon the achievement of development and regulatory milestones and up to $1.2 billion upon the achievement of commercial milestones, plus double-digit royalties on worldwide commercial sales of products targeting the antigens. In addition, the Company has the right to elect to co-commercialize each collaboration candidate in the U.S. and share equally in profits and losses in the U.S., subject to its payment of certain clinical development costs and adjustments in milestone and royalty payments.

About Fate Therapeutics’ iPSC Product Platform
The Company’s proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform enables mass production of off-the-shelf, engineered, homogeneous cell products that can be administered with multiple doses to deliver more effective pharmacologic activity, including in combination with cycles of other cancer treatments. Human iPSCs possess the unique dual properties of unlimited self-renewal and differentiation potential into all cell types of the body. The Company’s first-of-kind approach involves engineering human iPSCs in a one-time genetic modification event and selecting a single engineered iPSC for maintenance as a clonal master iPSC line. Analogous to master cell lines used to manufacture biopharmaceutical drug products such as monoclonal antibodies, clonal master iPSC lines are a renewable source for manufacturing cell therapy products which are well-defined and uniform in composition, can be mass produced at significant scale in a cost-effective manner, and can be delivered off-the-shelf for patient treatment. As a result, the Company’s platform is uniquely capable of overcoming numerous limitations associated with the production of cell therapies using patient- or donor-sourced cells, which is logistically complex and expensive and is subject to batch-to-batch and cell-to-cell variability that can affect clinical safety and efficacy. Fate Therapeutics’ iPSC product platform is supported by an intellectual property portfolio of over 250 issued patents and 150 pending patent applications.

GPB Scientific Announces $25.5 Million Financing from Vensana Capital and Amgen Ventures

On April 2, 2020 GPB Scientific, Inc., a developer of breakthrough technologies for therapeutic cell production and bioprocessing, reported a $25.5 million funding commitment (Press release, GPB Scientific, APR 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234556113]). The financing is led by Vensana Capital alongside strategic investor Amgen Ventures with ongoing participation by existing investors.

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GPB Scientific previewed its Curate Cell Processing System in January at the Phacilitate World Leaders / Stem Cell Summit, where it attracted high interest for its exceptional performance. The Curate system utilizes its proprietary microfluidic deterministic lateral displacement technology in an easy-to-use closed system that has demonstrated the ability to deliver high yield and quality to process CAR-T, stem, and other cells with the throughput and scalability required for cell and gene therapies.

"Vensana Capital looks to support entrepreneurs with medical technology products that can be scaled to have significant impact on healthcare. GPB’s Curate system can dramatically reduce the overall manufacturing cost, therapeutic yield losses, and process time for producing life-saving cell therapies for cancer and other diseases," said Justin Klein, M.D., co-founder and managing partner at Vensana Capital. "The enhanced cell quality and higher yield not only address current cell therapy manufacturing cost and challenges but also have the potential to enhance the therapeutic benefits for patients. With investment from our inaugural fund we will help GPB drive the clinical assessment, GMP production, and commercialization of the Curate system."

"The Curate system is poised to be transformative for cell and gene therapies," said Philip Tagari, Amgen Vice President, Therapeutic Discovery. "As the industry works to implement reliable, efficient and cost-effective systems for the global deployment of these breakthrough medical treatments, GPB has devised an elegant yet powerful solution for cell separation, washing and concentration. The broad potential of this innovation aligns with Amgen’s mission to partner with innovators in the fight against serious illness."

"We are grateful for the support and confidence that Vensana and Amgen Ventures have placed in GPB Scientific for the continued development and commercialization of our Curate system," said Mike Grisham, CEO of GBP Scientific. "Our company was founded with a commitment to apply the groundbreaking microfluidic technology we have developed to get people better, and the strength of this $25.5 million financing will ensure we achieve that goal."