Catalent to Invest $350 Million in Integrated Biologics Drug Substance and Drug Product Manufacturing at Bloomington, Indiana, Facility

On April 21, 2022 Catalent, the global leader in enabling biopharma, cell, gene, and consumer health partners to optimize development, launch, and supply of better patient treatments across multiple modalities, reported a multi-year $350 million investment at its facility in Bloomington, Indiana, to expand biologics drug substance and drug product manufacturing capabilities (Press release, Catalent, APR 21, 2022, https://www.catalent.com/catalent-news/catalent-to-invest-350-million-in-integrated-biologics-drug-substance-and-drug-product-manufacturing-at-bloomington-indiana-facility/ [SID1234612725]). The project will serve the industry’s robust biologics pipeline across various modalities with new bioreactors, syringe filling lines, and additional lyophilization capacity, supported by quality control laboratories and complex automated packaging.

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The expansion includes the installation of new 2,000-liter single-use bioreactors and expanded downstream processing capabilities for drug substance, with the versatility to meet customers’ needs with batches of up to 4,000-liters using single-use technology, or 5,000-liters using existing stainless-steel bioreactors. Also included are new quality control laboratories and complex packaging space with additional high-speed, automated cartoning and auto-injector device assembly capabilities. It is envisioned that these new capabilities will be fully operational later this calendar year.

The site will also be adding to its drug product fill/finish capacity, with new syringe filling lines under barrier isolator technology and additional lyophilized vial capacity. When completed in 2024, the site’s broad range of fill/finish offerings will provide great flexibility in dose form presentations and batch sizes to serve customers with everything from early- and late-stage development programs to high-volume commercial supply across various modalities.

Altogether, these expansions are expected to add over 1,000 new jobs to Catalent’s Bloomington workforce in the coming years.

"We continue to see strong growth in demand for biologics development and manufacturing with a deep pipeline across multiple indications," commented Mike Riley, President of Biotherapeutics at Catalent. "These investments will enable us to expand our flagship Bloomington facility and extend our leadership as one of the largest and most comprehensive global centers for integrated manufacturing capabilities. The site offers highly flexible and scalable solutions to companies developing new biological drugs, vaccines, RNA therapies, and other innovative treatments for patients around the world."

This expansion follows a series of recent investments in Catalent Biologics’ global network, including the modernization of its fill/finish and packaging facility in Limoges, France, and the acquisition of a new biologics development and manufacturing facility near Oxford, U.K.

Celsion Corporation Highlighted its PLACCINE Vaccine Platform Technology During Oral Presentation at the World Vaccine Congress

On April 21, 2022 Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ: CLSN), a clinical-stage company focused on DNA-based immunotherapy and next-generation vaccines, reported that its PLACCINE platform technology at the World Vaccine Congress taking place in Washington D.C (Press release, Celsion, APR 21, 2022, View Source [SID1234612748]). In an oral presentation during a Session on Cancer and Immunotherapy, Dr. Khursheed Anwer, Celsion’s Chief Science Officer, highlighted the Company’s technology platform in his presentation entitled: "Novel DNA Approaches for Cancer Immunotherapies and Multivalent Infectious Disease Vaccines." PLACCINE is one of three platform technologies Celsion has for a range of therapeutics in oncology and immunotherapy. A copy of Dr. Anwer’s presentation is available on the investor portion of the Celsion website under Scientific Presentations.

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"PLACCINE is demonstrating the potential to be a powerful platform that provides for rapid design capability for targeting two or more different variants of a single virus in one vaccine," said Dr. Khursheed Anwer, Chief Science Officer at Celsion. "There is a clear public health need for vaccines today that address more than one strain of viruses, like COVID-19, which have fast evolving variant capability to offer the widest possible protection. Murine model data has thus far been encouraging and suggests our approach provides not only flexibility, but also the potential for efficacy comparable to benchmark COVID-19 commercial vaccines with durability to protect for more than 6 months."

Dr. Anwer continued, "In the murine model, our multivalent vaccine targeted against two different variants showed to be immunogenic as determined by the levels of IgG, neutralizing antibodies, and T-cell responses. Additionally, our multivalent vaccine was equally effective against two different variants of the COVID-19 virus while the commercial mRNA vaccine appeared to have lost some activity against the newer variant. We are continuing to evaluate our technology and look forward to the results from our ongoing proof-of-concept non-human primate study evaluating our PLACCINE vaccine against the challenge from live SARS-CoV-2 virus in the second quarter, with durability results available in the second half of this year."

PLACCINE is the company’s first-in-class nucleic-acid vaccine platform used to design its next-generation vaccine technology against multiple antigens. PLACCINE was derived from the Company’s TheraPlas platform and was designed to develop vaccines against infectious diseases that are administered by intramuscular (IM) injection. The platform allows for straightforward adoption of the vaccines to additional applications such as cancer vaccines. PLACCINE demonstrates Celsion’s deep scientific know-how and extensive expertise in the design of novel delivery formulations as well as novel DNA constructs.

Michael H. Tardugno, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Celsion, noted "We are pleased to have our PLACCINE platform and technology highlighted at this prestigious conference. A vaccine that targets multiple strains at once, which could also provide longer lasting immunity, is a logical next step in the COVID-19 vaccination strategy. With our proof-of-concept studies underway, we are optimistic our approach will prove to offer meaningful benefits over current vaccines targeting the SARS-CoV-2 virus."

Ambrx Biopharma Inc. to Release Full Year 2021 Financial Results on Tuesday, April 26, 2022

On April 21, 2022 Ambrx Biopharma Inc., or Ambrx, (NYSE: AMAM), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company using an expanded genetic code technology platform to create Engineered Precision Biologics, reported that the company will release full year 2021 financial results on Tuesday April 26, 2022 after the close of market (Press release, Ambrx, APR 21, 2022, View Source [SID1234612873]). Ambrx will host a corresponding conference call and a live webcast at 1:30 p.m. PT / 4:30 p.m. ET on the same day to discuss the results and provide a corporate update.

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Individuals interested in listening to the conference call may do so by dialing (844) 200-6205 for domestic callers, or (929) 526-1599 for international callers and reference access code: 9264119; or from the webcast link in the investor relations section of the company’s website at: www.ambrx.com.

A webcast replay of the call will be available beginning April 26, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET. The webcast will be available in the investor relations section on the company’s website for 90 days following the completion of the call.

Cerus Corporation to Release First Quarter 2022 Financial Results on May 5, 2022

On April 21, 2022 Cerus Corporation (Nasdaq: CERS) reported that its first quarter 2022 financial results will be released on Thursday, May 5, 2022, after the close of the stock market (Press release, Cerus, APR 21, 2022, View Source [SID1234612727]). The Company will host a conference call and webcast at 4:30 P.M. ET that afternoon, during which management will discuss the Company’s financial results and provide a general business overview and outlook.

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To listen to the live webcast and view the presentation slides, please visit the Investor Relations page of the Cerus website at View Source Alternatively, you may access the live conference call by dialing (866) 235-9006 (U.S.) or (631) 291-4549 (international).

A replay will be available on Cerus’ website, or by dialing (855) 859-2056 (U.S.) or (404) 537-3406 (international) and entering conference ID number 8280547. The replay will be available approximately three hours after the call through May 19, 2022.

Median Technologies Reports Full-Year 2021 Results and Business Indicators for the First Quarter of 2022

On April 21, 2022 Median Technologies (Euronext Growth – ALMDT) (Paris:ALMDT) whose Board of Directors met on April 20, 2022 to close the consolidated financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2021, reported its full-year results for 2021 and business indicators for the first quarter of 2022 (Press release, MEDIAN Technologies, APR 21, 2022, View Source [SID1234612874]).

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First quarter 2022: initiation of regulatory interactions with the FDA for the iBiopsy LCS CADe/CADx1 software as medical device (SaMD) and growth in the iCRO order backlog2

During the first quarter of 2022, Median Technologies announced it had completed the CADe/CADx integration for its iBiopsy Lung Cancer Screening (LCS) software as medical device (SaMD), which has delivered outstanding sensitivity and specificity performances (see press release of March 22). On March 3, Median also announced it had submitted a 513(g) filing to the FDA. This structuring stage is the first step in Median’s interactions with the FDA, which are set to run until the iBiopsy LCS CADe/CADx SaMD obtains marketing approval.

As of March 31, 2022, Median’s first quarter revenue stood at €5.7 million, up 9.2% relative to revenue in the year-earlier period. Revenue was generated by the iCRO3 business, which provides services to the global biopharmaceutical industry for image management in oncology trials.

The order backlog stood at €62.3 million on March 31, 2022, up 18.4% relative to March 31, 2021 (€52.6 million).

On March 31, 2022, cash and cash equivalents totaled €33.1 million.

"2021 was a record year for Median with revenue of €20.5 million. Order intake was excellent during the fourth quarter after a fairly stable level for the backlog over the first three quarters. The first quarter of 2022 confirmed this momentum with the order backlog rising 18.4% relative to March 31, 2021. At the same time, revenue on March 31, 2022 was up 9.2% compared to the year-earlier period, and was the best quarterly level ever recorded by the Group," stated Fredrik Brag, CEO and founder of Median Technologies. "During the first quarter of 2022, we communicated the outstanding detection/characterization performances of our iBiopsy LCS CADe/CADx software as medical device, which could help save many lives through the early detection of lung cancer in clinical care. iBiopsy is also generating major interest from our pharma partners. The first regulatory exchanges with the FDA have now been initiated and we plan to start our pivotal trials late 2022".

2021 results: continued growth for Median and investments in the iBiopsy software as medical device (SaMD)

On January 17, 2022, Median reported business indicators for 2021 and now confirms:

Revenue as of December 31, 2021 of €20.5 million, up 52.4% relative to December 31, 2020,
An order backlog as of December 31, 2021 of €58 million,
Cash and cash equivalents of €39 million as of December 31, 2021.
As regards iBiopsy, 2021 was highlighted by progress in the development of iBiopsy LCS CADe/CADx SaMD. CADx results were presented at the Annual Meeting of the RSNA (Radiological Society of North America) at the end of November 2021 in Chicago.

Financial information as of December 31, 2021 (consolidated financial statements under IFRS accounting rules)

In 2021, Median’s cash was strengthened following the capital increase undertaken on March 25, 2021 for an amount of €26.6 million net of fees and expenses, and additional financing of over €6 million related to the exercise of equity warrants maturing on September 29, 2021.

Net cash flows from operating activities went from (€5.5) million in 2020 to (€10.1) million in 2021, primarily due to the sharp increase in working capital requirements related to growth in the business and the acceleration in investments for the development of the iBiopsy software as medical devices. Operating cash flow remained stable in 2021 relative to 2020.

The operating loss stood at €11.6 million, representing a €2.8 million increase over the year, of which €1.6 million for the IFRS accounting of free shares for Median’s employees and top management in October 2021 (with no impact on cash), and also in view of the investments made in R&D works for the iBiopsy platform.

Robust revenue and margin growth generated by the iCRO business nevertheless helped reduce the impact of investments related to iBiopsy at the operating level.

The financial loss totaled €7.3 million and stemmed primarily from an adjustment under IFRS accounting, with no impact on Median Technologies’ cash, consisting of valuing the equity warrants issued in favor of the EIB when the first €15 million tranche of the loan was drawn in H1 2020. This valuation was impacted by the increase in the Median’s share price since the equity warrant issue. It was accounted for in the balance sheet under financial instruments, and will not impact Median’s cash position.

Median Technologies informs its shareholders and the financial community that its annual financial report on the accounts for the year ending December 31, 2021 has been made available and filed with the French financial markets authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers).
The annual financial report is available on the Company’s website: View Source

Forward-looking statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts. They include projections and estimates as well as the assumptions on which these are based, statements concerning projects, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, or future performance. These forward-looking statements can often be identified by the words "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates" or "plans" and similar expressions. Although Median’s management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Median Technologies, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, and decisions by regulatory authorities. Median Technologies’ ability to take advantage of external growth opportunities and to complete related transactions and/or obtain regulatory approvals, risks associated with intellectual property, changes in foreign exchange rates and interest rates, volatility in economic conditions the impact of cost containment initiatives and their evolution, the average number of shares outstanding, as well as those developed or identified in Median Technologies’ public filings with the AMF, including those listed under "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements" in Median Technologies’ 2018 Reference Document. Median Technologies does not undertake to update any forward-looking information or statements, subject to applicable regulations, in particular Articles 223-1 et seq. of the General Regulation of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers.