On February 5, 2021 Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) reported second-quarter fiscal year 2021 revenue of $41.5 billion, an increase of 5% from the second quarter of last year (Press release, Cardinal Health, FEB 5, 2021, View Source [SID1234574686]). Second-quarter GAAP operating earnings increased 38% to $461 million, primarily due to the beneficial comparison to the prior-year charge related to voluntary surgical gown recalls. GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased to $2.13, primarily due to the tax effect of a self-insurance loss.

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Non-GAAP operating earnings decreased 3% to $628 million in the quarter, and this decrease included a modest net negative impact from COVID-19. The Pharmaceutical segment was adversely affected by COVID-19, while the Medical segment experienced a net positive impact. Non-GAAP diluted EPS increased 14% to $1.74 in the quarter, benefiting from a lower non-GAAP effective tax rate.

"As we collectively navigate the pandemic, we remain committed to supporting customers, patients, and communities around the world," said Mike Kaufmann, CEO of Cardinal Health. "Our second-quarter results demonstrate our resilient business model, strong fundamentals, and the adaptability of our dedicated employees. We remain focused on optimizing our core businesses, investing in key areas, and efficiently deploying capital to drive long-term, sustainable growth."

Second-quarter revenue for the Medical segment increased 7% to $4.3 billion, driven by a net positive impact from COVID-19. This increase was primarily due to the impact of personal protective equipment (PPE) sales and higher volumes in our lab business, partially offset by the adverse effects of cancelled or deferred elective procedures.

Medical segment profit increased 21% to $236 million in the second quarter, due to the net positive impact from COVID-19 and cost savings, which included global manufacturing efficiencies. The net positive impact from COVID-19 was primarily due to higher volumes in our Lab business and an increased contribution from PPE, partially offset by the adverse effects of cancelled or deferred elective procedures.

Tax rate
During the second quarter of fiscal 2021, our wholly-owned insurance subsidiary recorded a self-insurance pre-tax loss in its fiscal 2020 statutory financial statements related to charges previously accrued in the company’s consolidated financial statements. This self-insurance pre-tax loss, which did not impact the company’s pre-tax consolidated results, is currently deductible on our fiscal 2020 consolidated federal income tax return, and contributed to a significant net operating loss for tax purposes. In addition, pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act enacted by the United States Congress in March 2020, this net operating loss will be carried back to fiscal years 2015-2018 to recover previously-paid Federal taxes at rates that were in effect at that time.

Accordingly, the second-quarter fiscal 2021 GAAP effective tax rate of (47.6)% reflects a benefit of $420 million associated with the net operating loss carryback. Additionally, we intend to file for a federal income tax refund of $974 million, primarily as a result of the net operating loss carryback, which we expect to receive within 12 months. The company has recorded a corresponding current asset on its second quarter fiscal 2021 consolidated balance sheet.

The second-quarter fiscal 2021 non-GAAP effective tax rate of 13.2% reflects the impact of certain discrete items.

Fiscal year 2021 outlook1
Cardinal Health raised its fiscal year 2021 guidance range for non-GAAP diluted earnings per share attributable to Cardinal Health, Inc. to $5.85 to $6.10, from the prior range of $5.65 to $5.95.

The company does not provide forward-looking guidance on a GAAP basis as certain financial information, the probable significance of which cannot be determined, is not available and cannot be reasonably estimated. See "Use of Non-GAAP Measures" following the attached schedules for additional explanation.

Recent highlights

Cardinal Health Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.4859 per share. The dividend will be payable on April 15, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 1, 2021.
The company reached an agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to act as a network administrator in Phase 2 of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership Strategy for COVID-19. Additionally, the Cardinal Health OptiFreight Logistics business was selected by the Ohio Department of Health to support efforts to distribute COVID-19 vaccines.
For the 13th consecutive year, Cardinal Health was honored as one of the "Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality" by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, achieving 100% on the HRC’s 2021 Corporate Equality Index (CEI).
Upcoming webcasted investor events

Barclays Global Healthcare Conference at 8:35 a.m. Eastern, March 9
Webcast
Cardinal Health will host a webcast today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern to discuss second quarter results. To access the webcast and corresponding slide presentation, go to the Investor Relations page at ir.cardinalhealth.com. No access code is required.

Presentation slides and a webcast replay will be available until February 4, 2022.

On February 4, 2021 West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE: WST), a global leader in innovative solutions for injectable drug administration, reported that it will release fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, February 18, 2021, and will follow with a conference call to discuss the results and business expectations at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (Press release, West Pharmaceutical Services, FEB 4, 2021, View Source [SID1234574615]). To participate on the call, please dial 877-930-8295 (U.S.) or 253-336-8738 (International). The conference ID is 4095168.

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A live broadcast of the conference call will be available at the Company’s website, www.westpharma.com, in the "Investors" section. Management will refer to a slide presentation during the call, which will be made available on the day of the call. To view the presentation, select "Presentations" in the "Investors" section of the Company’s website.

An online archive of the broadcast will be available at the site three hours after the live call and will be available through Thursday, February 25, 2021, by dialing 855-859-2056 (U.S.) or 404-537-3406 (International). The conference ID is 4095168.

On February 4, 2021 Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies to treat diseases with significant unmet medical need, reported the appointment of Alvin Shih, MD, MBA, as President and Chief Executive Officer (Press release, Catamaran Bio, FEB 4, 2021, View Source [SID1234574632]). He has concurrently been appointed to the Board of Directors for Catamaran. Dr. Shih is an experienced biopharma executive with a track record of success in building companies across a broad spectrum of disease areas and therapeutic modalities, including cell and tissue therapies.

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"We are delighted to welcome Alvin to Catamaran, as his exceptional leadership skills for high-growth biotech companies are an ideal fit to lead the next phase of growth and CAR-NK cell therapy product development at Catamaran," said Kevin Pojasek, PhD, founder, initial Executive Chairman and current Board member of Catamaran. "Alvin will join the outstanding team at Catamaran that is rapidly advancing programs based on a cutting-edge and differentiated platform for developing allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies capable of reaching solid tumors."

Dr. Shih was most recently CEO of Disarm Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company developing therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, until its acquisition by Eli Lilly in October 2020. Prior to Disarm, he was CEO of Enzyvant Therapeutics, where he led the company’s development of a cell/tissue-based therapy for a rare immunologic disease. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Head of R&D at Retrophin, Inc. (now Travere Therapeutics) where he led the development of a diverse pipeline encompassing multiple disease areas. Alvin was previously the Chief Operating Officer and a founding member of Pfizer’s rare disease research unit, and he began his career as a management consultant at L.E.K. Consulting and McKinsey & Company. Dr. Shih holds an MD from the University of Alabama and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He completed residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"Catamaran has a unique set of capabilities for developing highly-potent CAR-NK cell therapies with the potential to dramatically expand the reach of cell therapies to solid tumors and bring transformative benefit to patients in need," said Dr. Shih. "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the very talented team at Catamaran as we advance our leading-edge TAILWIND Platform for engineering and manufacturing off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies."

About the TAILWIND Platform

Catamaran’s TAILWIND Platform integrates proprietary capabilities to create novel, allogeneic CAR‑NK cell therapies by harnessing the natural cancer-fighting properties of natural killer (NK) cells and enhancing them with the power of synthetic biology and innovative NK cell engineering and manufacturing. With the TAILWIND Platform, CAR-NK cells are programmed with NK cell-specific CAR architectures and potency-boosting switches to neutralize the hostile tumor microenvironment and enable efficacy against diverse cancer types, especially solid tumors. Additionally, the TAILWIND Platform includes proprietary, non-viral NK cell engineering technology for efficient modification of NK cells with customized genetic programs enabled by synthetic biology. Catamaran’s CAR-NK cell therapies use healthy donor cells that are engineered and manufactured for off‑the‑shelf use, unlike current CAR-T cell therapies that use a patient’s own genetically modified T cells and require a customized, multi-week manufacturing process.

On February 4, 2021 Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS) reported that it will host a conference call and webcast presentation at 8:00 a.m. ET (1:00 p.m. GMT) on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021 to discuss the company’s fourth quarter and year-end 2020 financial results (Press release, Alkermes, FEB 4, 2021, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alkermes-to-host-conference-call-to-discuss-fourth-quarter-and-year-end-2020-financial-results-301222672.html [SID1234574649]). Management will also discuss financial expectations for 2021 and provide an update on the company.

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The webcast player and accompanying slides may be accessed on the Investors section of Alkermes’ website at www.alkermes.com. The conference call may be accessed by dialing +1 877 407 2988 for U.S. callers and +1 201 389 0923 for international callers.

A replay of the conference call will be available from 11:00 a.m. ET (4:00 p.m. GMT) on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, through Thursday Feb. 18, 2021, and may be accessed by visiting Alkermes’ website or by dialing +1 877 660 6853 for U.S. callers and +1 201 612 7415 for international callers. The replay access code is 13715619.

On February 4, 2021 Veracyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCYT) (the "Company") reported the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 7,432,433 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $74.00 per share (Press release, Veracyte, FEB 4, 2021, View Source [SID1234574670]). The gross proceeds to the Company from this offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by Veracyte, are expected to be approximately $550 million. The public offering was upsized from the previously announced size of $400 million in shares of common stock. All of the shares are being offered by the Company. The offering is expected to close on or about February 9, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, the Company granted to the underwriters participating in the offering a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,114,864 shares of its common stock at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

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Veracyte intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with its existing cash and cash equivalents, to finance its acquisition of Decipher Biosciences, Inc. Veracyte intends to use the remaining net proceeds of this offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions or investments in complementary businesses, technologies or other assets, although it has no present commitments or agreements to do so (other than with respect to Decipher Biosciences, Inc.).

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and SVB Leerink LLC are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the offering, William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is acting as a book-running manager and BTIG, LLC, Needham & Company, LLC, and Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC are acting as co-managers.

The shares will be issued pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 3, 2021. A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering have been filed with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. A final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus will be filed with the SEC. A copy of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering, when available, may be obtained by contacting Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, by email at [email protected], or by telephone at (866) 471-2526; or SVB Leerink LLC, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 01220, by email at [email protected], or by telephone at (800) 808-7525, ext. 6105.

This press release does not and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. Any offer, if at all, will be made only by means of a prospectus, including a prospectus supplement, forming a part of the effective registration statement.

Veracyte, Afirma, Percepta, Envisia, Prosigna, LymphMark, and Know by Design, and the Veracyte, Afirma, Percepta, Envisia and Prosigna logos are trademarks of Veracyte, Inc.