Prothena to Report First Quarter 2022 Financial Results on May 5th

On April 28, 2022 Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA), a late-stage clinical biotechnology company with a robust pipeline of investigational therapeutics built on protein dysregulation expertise, reported that it will report its first quarter 2022 financial results on Thursday, May 5, 2022 after the close of the U.S. financial markets (Press release, Prothena, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613235]).

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Consistent with past practice, the Company will not be conducting a conference call in conjunction with this financial results release on May 5.

Kelonia Therapeutics Launches with $50 Million Series A Financing to Pioneer Precision Targeted Genetic Medicines

On April 28, 2022 Kelonia Therapeutics, a biotech company revolutionizing in vivo gene delivery, launched with a $50 million Series A financing to usher in a new era of genetic medicines for a wide range of diseases (Press release, Kelonia Therapeutics, APR 28, 2022, Kelonia Therapeutics Launches with $50 Million Series A Financing to Pioneer Precision Targeted Genetic Medicines [SID1234640176]). Kelonia’s platform overcomes the central challenge that has prevented the full realization of gene therapy for patients. Despite life-changing responses, existing gene therapies are highly complex, costly, and limited by complicated treatment paradigms, tractable therapeutic applications, and dose-limiting toxicities. By enabling precisely targeted, highly efficient, manufacturable "off-the-shelf" in vivo gene delivery, Kelonia’s technology has the potential to dramatically expand the impact and reach of genetic medicines to every patient in need.

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Kelonia is backed by a strong syndicate of investors with a track record of successfully launching and building disruptive biotech companies. Alta Partners, Horizons Ventures, Venrock and other investors participated in the Series A round. The company will use the funding to redefine what’s possible for genetic medicines starting with an "off-the-shelf" chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to treat hematologic cancer that may enable the unrivalled clinical benefit of CAR T without the typical toxicities and with the ease of access of conventional medicines. Additionally, the company will advance other programs for oncology and non-oncology indications, and further expand its gene delivery platform and capabilities.

"The cell and gene therapy field has been searching for solutions to durable in vivo genetic modifications regardless of whether applying gene editing, RNA expression or viral-mediated gene integration," said Kevin Friedman, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Kelonia. "At Kelonia, we believe we have found an in vivo gene delivery solution that is safe, effective, and manufacturable for broad therapeutic application. With our Series A funding and key strategic collaborations, we will advance our lead product candidate toward clinical studies and further optimize our technology to explore treating diseases never thought possible with genetic medicines."

Based on discoveries made in the lab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Michael Birnbaum, Ph.D., and leveraging pioneering research from leading scientists at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Kelonia’s in vivo gene delivery technology enables a few potent lentiviral vector-like particles armed with an adjustable targeting system to precisely, efficiently, and safely deliver payloads exactly where needed to treat a broad range of diseases. The company’s early applications combine oncology-targeted therapeutics, such as CAR and T cell receptor molecules, with Kelonia’s precision in vivo targeting technology. When used in concert, this combination enables potent and precise tumor targeting with limited "off-tumor" toxicity, which would otherwise be a concern. Administered directly in vivo as an "off-the-shelf" medicine, Kelonia’s transformational therapies in development for solid and hematologic tumors have the potential to democratize patient access to genetic medicines. Beyond oncology, the company will advance its technology to unlock delivery to previously hard-to-reach tissues, such as neurological, muscular or renal, to deliver different types of genetic cargo with the goal of radically transforming the treatment of diseases in these areas.

"It turns out, a relatively simple and elegant idea to de-target and redirect lentivirus-like particles based on recently published research from my lab can potentially provide a solution to in vivo gene delivery," said Dr. Birnbaum, Ph.D., Co-Founder of Kelonia. "I’m incredibly excited about the potential of Kelonia’s platform and team to vastly expand the utility of gene therapies to treat oncology, autoimmune disease, rare monogenic or other diseases currently intractable to gene therapies."

"Kelonia is combining the two crucial elements required to develop truly novel medicines: breakthrough biology and an exceptional team," said Bryan Roberts, Partner at Venrock. "Michael Birnbaum’s industrially robust platform affords a targeting specificity log orders better than anything else out there and the team has a stellar track record for translating groundbreaking scientific gene therapy discoveries into viable products that are transformative for patients."

Strategic Collaborations

In addition to the completion of its Series A, Kelonia has established strategic collaborations with Adimab and ElevateBio. With both collaborations already successfully underway, each of these outstanding partners brings differentiating capabilities that enable and accelerate the company’s vision to bring breakthrough genetic medicines to patients.

Adimab is the leading provider of therapeutic antibody discovery and engineering technologies. Kelonia will leverage Adimab’s expertise and proprietary technologies, across a range of applications, to access tissue-specific antibodies that enable unlocking precise in vivo gene delivery to different tissues as well as antibodies that can be leveraged within the therapeutic genetic cargo.

ElevateBio is a technology-driven company focused on powering transformative cell and gene therapies with multiple next-generation technology platforms and a fully integrated R&D and manufacturing facility. Through an expanding partnership, Kelonia will utilize ElevateBio’s lentiviral vector platform, process and analytical development expertise, and cGMP manufacturing capabilities to develop and advance novel manufacturing processes for Kelonia and manufacture of Kelonia’s products.

Vivoryon Therapeutics N.V. Reports Full Year 2021 Financial Results and Highlights Operational Progress

On April 28, 2022 Vivoryon Therapeutics N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: VVY; NL00150002Q7) (Vivoryon) ), a clinical stage company focused on discovery and development of small molecule medicines to modulate the activity and stability of pathologically altered proteins, reported financial results for the twelve month period ending December 31, 2021 and provided an update on its corporate progress (Press release, Vivoryon Therapeutics, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613086]). The report is available on the Company’s website View Source." target="_blank" title="View Source." rel="nofollow">View Source

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"2021 was a truly outstanding year for Vivoryon, marked by a number of hugely important achievements in the clinical development of our lead candidate varoglutamstat for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the pandemic-related challenges, we have met the recruitment objectives for our European Phase 2b VIVIAD study and initiated our Phase 2a/b study VIVA-MIND in the U.S. as planned. Clinical development in the U.S. is further supported by the Fast Track designation the FDA has granted for varoglutamstat last December. In addition, the regulatory achievements of our Chinese partner Simcere, enabling near-term clinical development in China, broadens the tremendous opportunity we have to make varoglutamstat available to as many patients as possible. All of these highlights are a testimony to our team’s unwavering dedication to making a difference for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease worldwide," said Dr. Ulrich Dauer, CEO of Vivoryon. "As an oral small molecule designed to target all hallmarks of AD, varoglutamstat is truly differentiated from all other approaches and we are convinced that its unique mode of action positions it as an urgently needed alternative to solely Abeta-focused, antibody-based treatments. For the remainder of the year, we are looking at a number of key milestones and inflection points that we believe will further substantiate the potential of varoglutamstat in AD. The successful placement of new shares amounting to EUR 21 million at the beginning of April this year, with participation of a number of high-quality institutional investors from Europe and the U.S., will enable us to reach these milestones, and we are extremely grateful to all our shareholders for their continued support."

Clinical Portfolio Highlights

In December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for Vivoryon’s lead product candidate varoglutamstat. Varoglutamstat, an oral QPCT/L inhibitor, is the Company’s lead product candidate and the first small molecule and only project in clinical development selectively targeting the de novo production of neurotoxic N3pE amyloid, a toxic Abeta variant shown to play a pivotal role in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Fast Track is a process designed to facilitate the development, and expedite the review of drugs with the potential to treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need, aiming to bring important new drugs to the patient earlier. With Fast Track designation, the development of varoglutamstat can benefit from more frequent engagement with the FDA to discuss varoglutamstat’s development plan and ensure collection of the appropriate data needed to successfully advance varoglutamstat through clinical development.
In September 2021, Vivoryon initiated its U.S. Phase 2a/b VIVA-MIND study (NCT03919162) for varoglutamstat in patients with early AD. VIVA-MIND is a combined Phase 2a/b study which seeks to enroll 180 patients into the Phase 2a adaptive dose finding part. If predefined criteria are fulfilled, the trial will pass a stage-gate into the Phase 2b part, enrolling an additional 234 patients treated at the selected dose for at least 72 weeks. Thus, taken together, a total of 414 patients will be treated on stable doses of varoglutamstat for 18 months in the course of the study. The primary endpoint for this study is CDR-SB (clinical dementia rating scale – sum of boxes), an established approvable endpoint measuring a combination of cognitive abilities and activities of daily living. The study is coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS), and supported by a US$15 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA award number R01AG061146). The study is actively enrolling patients, with currently eleven sites open and on track for an interim futility analysis planned for the first half of 2023.
Vivoryon’s ongoing European VIVIAD study (NCT04498650) is a state-of-the-art Phase 2b study designed to yield important results in early AD for varoglutamstat. Mitigating the effects of the ongoing pandemic, Vivoryon has more than doubled the originally planned number of study centers. The study is enrolling a total of 250 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild AD. Objectives are to evaluate the long-term efficacy (primary endpoint subset of Cogstate NTB), safety and tolerability of oral varoglutamstat. The first 90 patients are randomised 1:1:1 (600 mg twice daily, (BID) or 300 mg BID varoglutamstat or placebo BID). An independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) will unblind safety results after 90 patients have completed 24 weeks of treatment and select the final varoglutamstat dose to be carried forward for the remainder of the study. Here, all patients will be randomized 1:1 between the final dose of varoglutamstat and placebo and continue treatment up to 48-96 weeks dependent on their study entry date. In addition to the full composite Neuropsychological Test Battery (NTB) score administered throughout the study to assess cognition, a set of exploratory read-outs including cognitive tests, functional electroencephalogram (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessments and the analysis of new molecular biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) will be used to evaluate the compound’s effect on disease pathology. Secondary endpoints include long-term safety and tolerability of varoglutamstat and its effect on brain activity, cognition and activities of daily living. Details on the study background and design were published in the Journal "Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy" (Vijverberg et al., View Source). With 22 active study sites VIVIAD remains on track for an interim safety readout in mid-22 and Vivoryon continues to anticipate final data in the second half of 2023.
Further substantiating the rationale for evaluating varoglutamstat in combination with monoclonal antibodies to treat AD, in October 2021, Vivoryon and its collaboration partners published data providing strong preclinical evidence of treatment with a combination of the Company’s small molecule QPCT/L inhibitor varoglutamstat and its N3pE amyloid-specific antibody PBD-C06 having an additive effect on reducing brain Abeta pathology in transgenic mice. The data, published in the "International Journal of Molecular Sciences" (Hoffmann et al., View Source), support the hypothesis of a potential benefit of a combination therapy designed to simultaneously target two different and independent molecular pathways, namely reducing N3pE amyloid production by QPCT/L inhibition and clearing existing Abeta deposits through anti-N3pE-immunotherapy.
Also in October 2021, the Company announced the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities for production of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) by initiating a second line of manufacturing with an additional partner to ensure sustainable study drug supply with varoglutamstat for VIVA-MIND beyond the ongoing Phase 2a adaptive dose finding part, as well as for potential future studies in other geographies, with the added benefit of increasing flexibility to react to global challenges such as the ongoing pandemic.
Corporate Development Highlights

In June 2021, Vivoryon and Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd entered into a strategic regional licensing partnership to develop and commercialize medicines targeting the neurotoxic amyloid species N3pE (pGlu-Abeta) to treat AD in Greater China. The agreement grants Simcere a regional license to develop and commercialize varoglutamstat (PQ912), Vivoryon’s Phase 2b-stage N3pE amyloid-targeting oral small molecule glutaminyl cyclase (QPCT) inhibitor with disease-modifying potential for AD, as well as the Company’s preclinical monoclonal N3pE antibody PBD-C06 in the Greater China region.
In March 2021, the Extraodinary General Meeting of Vivoryon re-appointed Dr. Ulrich Dauer as CEO and appointed Florian Schmid as CFO as of April 1, 2021. Mr. Schmid joined Vivoryon from InflaRx, where he served as Director Finance & Controlling. In Vivoryon’s 2021 Ordinary Annual General Meeting held June 28, 2021, all items presented for resolution by the Board of Directors were approved with a large majority, including the re-appointment of Dr. Michael Schaeffer as CBO.
Throughout 2021, Vivoryon further expanded its patent portfolio with a total of 55 additional patents that have been granted from January to December for the Company’s small molecule inhibitors and antibody-based medicines in development to treat AD and other diseases with exceptionally high medical need.
Post-period Events

On April 1, 2022, Vivoryon announced that it had successfully completed a private placement by way of accelerated bookbuilding, raising gross proceeds of EUR 21 million. The Company placed 2,000,000 registered shares at an offering price of EUR 10.50 per share. The new shares from the capital increase represent 10% of Vivoryon’s existing issued share capital and have been issued from the Company’s authoritzed capital under exclusion of the existing shareholders’ pre-emptive rights. As a consequence, the Company’s issued share capital has increased to EUR 22,050,482.00. Vivoryon intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to support the ongoing clinical development of its lead candidate varoglutamstat, as well as for general corporate purposes. The new shares have been admitted to trading on Euronext Amsterdam on April 5, 2022. The capital raise was supported by a number of high-quality institutional investors from Europe and the U.S. as well as members of Vivoryon’s Executive and Non-Executive Boards.
On February 28, 2022, Vivoryon and its partner Simcere announced that China’s Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved the Clinical Trial Application for varoglutamstat for the development in Greater China by Simcere. Simcere intends to start the clinical Phase 1 study in China in the first half of 2022.
In line with the Company’s efforts to meet international best practice standards, Vivoryon plans to expand and diversify its Non-Executive Board, intending to propose two additional candidates for nomination at its 2022 Annual General Meeting to be held later this year.
Financial Results for the Full Year 2021

The Company generated license revenues of EUR 10.8 million in 2021 from a regional licensing partnership with Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd for Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) signed on June 29, 2021. No revenues were generated in 2020, respectively.

Research and development expenses increased in 2021 by EUR 4.2 million compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. This increase is primarily attributable to a EUR 3.7 million higher expenses for our clinical trial, VIVIAD, and the related production of PQ912, as well as EUR 0.8 million higher expenses for share-based payments

General and administrative expenses increased by EUR 1.7 million largely attributable to EUR 0.8 million higher expenses for share based payments as well as EUR 0.6 higher expesenses for legal and consulting services in connection with preparation of a US listing.

Net loss for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 was EUR 12.7 million, compared to EUR 16.5 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020. The Company held EUR 14.7 million in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021, compared to EUR 26.3 million as of December 31, 2020.

Financial Guidance Following the capital raise completed in April 2022, according to current planning and estimates, Vivoryon expects that its existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund its research and development expenses as well the general and administrative expenses and cash flows from investing and financing activities at least through end of May 2023. This guidance does not include potential milestone payments from development partnerships, potential payments from licensing agreements and/or additional financing measures, as far as such payments have not yet been recognized in revenues. The financial guidance takes into account all costs to ensure sustainable study drug supply with varoglutamstat for the VIVA-MIND U.S. study.

Annual Financial Report 2021

The financial statements of Vivoryon have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) of the International Accounting Standards Board, as adopted by the European Union (EU-IFRS) and with Section 2:362(9) of the Netherlands Civil Code. The auditor KPMG has issued an unqualified auditor’s report for both statements. The reports are available on the Company’s website (View Source).

Conference Call and Webcast

Vivoryon will host a conference call and webcast today, April 28, 2022, at 3:00 pm CEST (09:00 am EDT). A Q&A session will follow the presentation of the full year results.

Please dial in ten minutes prior to commencement.

A live webcast and slides will be made available at: www.vivoryon.com/investors-news/news-and-events/presentations-webcasts/

Approximately one day after the call, a slide-synchronized audio replay of the conference will be available on: www.vivoryon.com/investors-news/news-and-events/presentations-webcasts/

Chimera Appoints New CEO, Wins AFCR BRACE Award, and Accelerates towards the Clinic

On April 28, 2022 Chimera Bioengineering ("Chimera") a biotherapeutics company building next-generation CAR-T therapeutics focused primarily on solid tumors, reported the appointment of Vlad Hogenhuis, M.D., as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Press release, Chimera Bioengineering, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613107]). Previously, Dr. Hogenhuis was Chief Operating Officer at Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals and Head of Specialty Pharma and Oncology at GSK. The Company also announced it won AFCR’s 2021 BRACE Award Venture Competition, in recognition of Chimera’s breakthrough science for the development of transformative cancer therapeutics. Chimera’s lead candidate, CBIO-007, is a conditionally armed CAR-T cell therapy in preclinical development as a potential treatment for major solid tumors, such as lung, breast, colorectal, pancreatic, prostate, and ovarian cancers. CBIO-007 was generated from Chimera’s proprietary GOLD Platform(TM) technology, which creates conditional, location-specific activation of tumor microenvironment (TME)-modifying payloads by CAR-T cell therapies.

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"When I was evaluating opportunities, I was immediately struck by the elegance and enormous potential impact of Chimera’s approach to enhance CAR-T efficacy while minimizing their toxicity," said Dr. Hogenhuis. "We are thrilled to have won AFCR’s BRACE Award, which has not only connected us to investors and advisors, it also has provided key funding and validation of our approach and current dataset. We’ve generated compelling preclinical data confirming delivery of potent immunomodulatory payloads to solid tumors without systemic exposure, and this data gives us confidence that Chimera’s GOLD Platform technology can unlock the potential of CAR-T to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors."

AFCR’s BRACE Award is a first-of-its-kind program for early stage oncology technology companies focused on Asian-prevalent cancers. With this honor, AFCR, Bluedot Bio, and other new investors contributed $7.5 million of new capital, joining Chimera’s existing investors, including Viking Global Investors, Founders Fund, and Illumina Accelerator, to bring the company’s total amount raised to $26 million, since the company was founded in 2015. Since that time, Chimera has established a pipeline of therapies from its proprietary GOLD Platform technology, which creates conditional, location-specific activation of tumor microenvironment (TME)-modifying payloads by CAR-T therapies. The company’s preclinical dataset on its lead candidate, CBIO-007, in pancreatic, prostate, and triple negative breast cancer xenograft tumor models, demonstrates that CBIO-007 efficiently eliminates tumors, while unarmed CAR-T cells are unable to control them.

AFCR’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder Sujuan Ba, Ph.D., said, "AFCR’s BRACE Award Venture Competition is designed to accelerate the commercialization of innovative cancer research discoveries for cancer patients, in Asia and worldwide, and we believe Chimera’s novel approach to spatially controlling CAR-T cells, for safer, more potent therapies, has the potential to improve the treatment of a broad range of cancers from hematologic cancers to solid tumors."

"During the evaluation of Chimera for AFCR’s BRACE Award, I was impressed with Chimera’s insightful approach to counteract the suppressive tumor microenvironment by leveraging natural mechanisms in the engineering of T cells to selectively deliver a payload only when they are activated by tumor cells," said Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D., Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical school, who led the committee for the AFCR’s BRACE Award Venture Competition and founded several biotechs, including Cell Genesys, Abgenix (acquired by Amgen) and Millennium (acquired by Takeda). "Furthermore, Chimera’s initial data in preclinical models provides support for the ability of their GOLD Platform technology to direct the curative potential of CAR-T therapies to treating solid tumors, which continues to be a leading cause of death around the world."

About Chimera’s GOLD(TM) Platform Technology

Chimera’s GOLD Platform harnesses programmable, RNA-based gene regulation circuits inherent to immune cells to control CAR-T therapies conditionally armed with therapeutic payloads that target the tumor microenvironment (TME). Chimera applies its proprietary GOLD Platform to engineer potent CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumors that target the immunosuppressive TME, which has historically limited conventional CAR-T therapeutic efficacy. In preclinical studies, the GOLD Platform spatially restricts to the site of solid tumors the delivery of high levels of powerful therapeutic payloads by armed CAR-T cells, weakening the TME and maximizing CAR-T potency. Specifically, Chimera demonstrated in head-to head preclinical experiments with unarmed as well as a constitutively armed IL-12 payload that GOLD-controlled CAR-Ts eliminated xenograft tumors from prostate, pancreas, and triple negative breast cancer cell lines. Chimera’s chimeric receptor engagement-dependent payload delivery approach is designed to prevent toxic, systemic payload exposures that can decrease the therapeutic index of armed CAR-T cells.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Reports First Quarter 2022 Results

On April 28, 2022 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO), the world leader in serving science, reported its financial results for the first quarter ended April 2, 2022 (Press release, Thermo Fisher Scientific, APR 28, 2022, https://corporate.thermofisher.com/content/tfcorpsite/us/en/index/newsroom/press-releases/2022/Apr/28-Thermo-Fisher-Scientific-Reports-First-Quarter-2022-Results.html [SID1234613127]).

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First Quarter 2022 Highlights

First quarter revenue was $11.82 billion.
First quarter GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $5.61.
First quarter adjusted EPS was $7.25.
Delivered very strong financial results in the first quarter, with 16% Core organic growth and $1.68 billion of COVID-19 testing revenue.
Launched high-impact new products including the Applied Biosystems SeqStudio Flex Series genetic analyzer to improve clinical research and advance scientific discovery and the new Thermo Scientific TRACE 1600 Series Gas Chromatograph, one of four new instruments in our Gas Chromatography (GC) and GC-Mass Spectrometry (MS) Product Portfolio advancing analytical testing for food, environmental, industrial and pharmaceutical applications.
Strengthened our unique customer value proposition with the opening of a new biorepository in Vacaville, California, to advance our cell and gene therapy services. We also brought additional bioproduction capacity online for single-use containers and cell culture media.
Reflecting the customer value proposition for our pharma and biotech customers, and as an example of our trusted partner status, Moderna announced a 15-year strategic collaboration agreement with Thermo Fisher to enable large-scale U.S. manufacturing of future mRNA-based vaccines and therapies.
Building on our environmental, social and governance priorities and enabling broad adoption of sustainable solutions, we exceeded the milestone of shipping more than one million readily recyclable paper coolers to transport cold-chain products without the use of traditional polystyrene foam coolers.
Repurchased $2.0 billion of stock and increased our dividend by 15 percent.
"We are very pleased to deliver another quarter of excellent performance," said Marc N. Casper, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We started the year with great momentum, executing our proven growth strategy and continuing to be a trusted partner for our customers. Our PPD clinical research business is performing very well, the integration is going smoothly and we are even more excited about the opportunities we have to further enable the success of our pharma and biotech customers."

Casper added, "The strong execution by our team in the first quarter positions us to deliver another outstanding year."

First Quarter 2022

Revenue for the quarter grew 19% to $11.82 billion in 2022. Organic revenue growth was 3%, acquisitions increased revenue by 18% and currency translation decreased revenue by 2%. Core organic growth was 16%. COVID-19 testing revenue was $1.68 billion.

GAAP Earnings Results

GAAP diluted EPS in the first quarter of 2022 was $5.61, versus $5.88 in the same quarter last year. GAAP operating income for the first quarter of 2022 was $2.82 billion, compared with $3.05 billion in the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating margin was 23.9%, compared with 30.8% in the first quarter of 2021.

Non-GAAP Earnings Results

Adjusted EPS in the first quarter of 2022 was $7.25, versus $7.21 in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating income for the first quarter of 2022 was $3.45 billion, compared with $3.51 billion in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating margin was 29.2%, compared with 35.4% in the first quarter of 2021.

Annual Guidance for 2022

The company will provide updated 2022 financial guidance during its earnings conference call this morning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted EPS, adjusted net income, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, free cash flow, organic revenue growth and Core organic revenue growth are non-GAAP measures that exclude certain items detailed after the tables that accompany this press release, under the heading "Supplemental Information Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures." The reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are provided in the tables that accompany this press release.

Conference Call

Thermo Fisher Scientific will hold its earnings conference call today, April 28, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. To listen, dial (844) 200-6205 within the U.S. or (929) 526-1599 outside the U.S. The access code is 310385. You may also listen to the call live on our website, www.thermofisher.com, by clicking on "Investors." You will find this press release, including the accompanying reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures and related information, in that section of our website under "Financials." An audio archive of the call will be available under "News and Events" through Friday, May 13, 2022.