Bavarian Nordic Announces First Half 2022 Results

On August 24, 2022 Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX: BAVA) reported its interim financial results and business progress for the first half of 2022 and released its financial calendar for 2023 (Press release, Bavarian Nordic, AUG 24, 2022, View Source [SID1234618611]).

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Paul Chaplin, President & Chief Executive Officer of Bavarian Nordic said: "This year we planned to make significant investments for the future growth of Bavarian Nordic, as we moved two late-stage assets that have the potential to meet large unmet medical needs into global Phase 3 trials. While these programs remain on-track we have had to mobilize our entire organization to ensure we concentrate our efforts in the best possible way to manufacture and supply vaccines to help governments around the world combat an unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox. The magnitude of this outbreak was unexpected, however, our long-standing public-private partnership with the U.S. government has ensured that a safe and effective vaccine against monkeypox exists, enabling authorities to respond rapidly to this health crisis. We are making every effort to meet the initial worldwide demand for our monkeypox vaccine and are working diligently to further expand our manufacturing capacity through additional scale-up activities and partnerships.

Despite our heavy investments in R&D, the strong sales performance in all parts of our business during the first six months, together with our projections for the remainder of the year means that we are now nearing a break-even result for 2022, and we see a robust business for the monkeypox vaccine building up beyond 2022."

Financial highlights

Total revenue in first half year was DKK 857 million comprised of DKK 764 million from product sales, DKK 83 million in milestone payments from partners and DKK 10 million from contract work.
Revenue in second quarter totaled DKK 537 million comprised of DKK 234 million from sale of Rabipur/RabAvert, DKK 144 million from sale of Encepur, DKK 117 million from sale of JYNNEOS/IMVANEX/IMVAMUNE, DKK 38 million from sale of third-party products and DKK 4 million from contract work. The majority of the 2022 revenue from sale of JYNNEOS/IMVANEX/IMVANUNE during the second quarter will be recognized in the second half of 2022 in line with the planned deliveries.
EBITDA in first half year was a loss of DKK 212 million.
Strong cash position of DKK 2,753 million at end of first half year 2022
Financial guidance for the full year has been upgraded six times since March 2022 as result of multiple supply contracts being entered since the start of the monkeypox outbreak in May. The most recent guidance, issued on July 18, is maintained at revenues between DKK 2,700 and 2,900 million, EBITDA with a loss between DKK -300 and -100 million and cash and cash equivalents at year-end expected to exceed DKK 1,700 million.

DKK million Q2 2022 Q2 2021 H1 2022 H1 2021 2022 Guidance
Revenue 537 370 857 905 2,700 – 2,900
EBITDA (118) (9) (212) (8) (300) – (100)
Cash and cash equivalents 2,753* 2,207* 2,753* 2,207* > 1,700
* Repo pledged securities deducted.

Other highlights

Smallpox/Monkeypox

In May, the U.S. government exercised an option for manufacturing of freeze-dried JYNNEOS. The option, valued at USD 119 million, represents the first of a set of options with a total value of USD 299 million under a contract awarded in 2017 to convert bulk vaccine, already manufactured and invoiced under previous contracts, to freeze-dried doses.
In May, Bavarian Nordic entered several vaccine supply contracts with governments worldwide in response to the global monkeypox outbreak.
In June, Bavarian Nordic entered a multi-year contract with Canada, valued at USD 56 million, to deliver smallpox vaccines from 2023 and ahead. Bavarian Nordic has worked with the Canadian authorities since 2008 to ensure availability of the vaccine.
In June, the U.S. government ordered 500,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine for delivery in 2022. The vaccines will be filled using existing bulk vaccine already manufactured and invoiced under previous contracts.
In June, Bavarian Nordic entered a contract with the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) to supply monkeypox vaccines to EU member states in 2022.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

In April, Bavarian Nordic initiated a global Phase 3 clinical trial of MVA-BN RSV against RSV in older adults. The trial is planned to enroll approximately 20,000 adults ≥60 years of age and will run through the RSV season 2022/2023 with topline results expected mid-2023.
In June, the European Medicines Agency granted access to its priority medicines (PRIME) scheme for MVA-BN RSV in active immunization for the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in adults ≥60 years of age. MVA-BN RSV has previously also been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
ABNCoV2 (COVID-19)

In May, Bavarian Nordic reported additional Phase 2 results for the COVID-19 booster vaccine candidate, ABNCoV2, demonstrating that vaccination with ABNCoV2 induced a significant boost to the neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant in the majority of subjects (87%), who were previously vaccinated with approved mRNA or adenoviral vaccines. Neutralizing antibodies reached levels reported to be associated with a high level of protection (>90%), similar to what was previously reported for ABNCoV2 with respect to other variants of concern.
In June, Bavarian Nordic announced an updated design for its Phase 3 trial for ABNCoV2, which will be a non-inferiority trial comparing ABNCoV2 to Comirnaty. The trial will start enrollment in August 2022.
Events after the reporting date

In July, the U.S. government ordered an additional 5 million doses of monkeypox vaccine for delivery in 2022 and 2023. The vaccines will be filled using existing bulk vaccine, earlier manufactured and invoiced under previous contracts with the U.S. government. A U.S. based contract manufacturer will assist in the filling of vaccines.
In July, following a positive opinion by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the European Commission approved an extension of the current marketing authorization for the Company’s smallpox vaccine, IMVANEX to include protection from monkeypox and disease caused by vaccinia virus.
In July, Bavarian Nordic received approvals from U.S. and EU regulatory authorities of the final drug manufacturing of smallpox and monkeypox vaccine, which has been transferred to the Company’s fill and finish facility in Denmark. The U.S. approval was granted after a successful inspection by FDA earlier in July and the EU approval was granted upon assessment by CHMP of an application submitted in June 2022, in supplement to the approval earlier granted by the Danish Medicines Agency after inspection of the facility.
In July and August, Bavarian Nordic received additional orders for monkeypox vaccine from several governments, including significant orders for 2023.
Conference call and webcast
The management of Bavarian Nordic will host an investor/analyst call today at 2 pm CEST (8 am EDT) to present the interim results followed by a Q&A session. A listen-only version of the call and presentation slides can be accessed via https://bit.ly/3pBUllR. To join the Q&A session, please register in advance via https://bit.ly/3dS5ZGU.

Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited Appendix 4D Half-Year Financial Report 30 June 2022

On August 24, 2022 Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited ("Neuren" or the "Company") reported this financial report, including the interim consolidated financial statements, for the six months ended 30 June 2022, with the six months ended 30 June 2021 as the comparative period (Press release, Neuren, AUG 24, 2022, View Source;[email protected] [SID1234618610]).

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The Group’s net loss after income tax for the half-year ended 30 June 2022 was $7.0 million, compared with $8.0 million for the half-year ended 30 June 2021.

Research and development costs decreased by $2.4 million, with the higher expenditure in 2021 mainly due to the NNZ2591 Phase 1 clinical trial and manufacture of the drug for clinical trials and non-clinical studies. This was partially offset by an increase in corporate and administrative costs of $0.8 million, due to appointment of new personnel and timing of insurance premiums, and by an increase in share-based payments expense of $0.7 million following the issue of new share options issued in February 2022.

A more detailed discussion of the activities undertaken in the period is set out in the Directors’ Report contained in the attached Interim Report.

Ligand Announces that Janssen has Received Approval from European Commission for TECVAYLI® (teclistamab) for the Treatment of Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma

On August 24, 2022 Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) reported that the Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen) received conditional marketing authorization (CMA) from the European Commission for TECVAYLI (teclistamab) as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma (Press release, Ligand, AUG 24, 2022, View Source [SID1234618609]). Teclistamab is a T-cell redirecting, bispecific antibody targeting both B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and CD3 that was discovered by Janssen scientists using OmniAb’s OmniRat antibody discovery technology.

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Under the terms of the licensing agreement with an affiliate of Janssen, OmniAb is eligible to receive a $10 million milestone payment upon the first commercial sale of teclistamab in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, or Spain.

"Approval of Janssen’s TECVAYLI by the European Commission adds another important medicine for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. This marks the first European approval of an OmniAb-derived antibody, and the first approval of an OmniAb-derived bispecific antibody," said Matt Foehr, President and COO of Ligand. "We look forward to the continued advancement of therapies our collaborators have discovered using the OmniAb platform."

Ligand’s previously announced spin-off of OmniAb and merger (Business Combination) with Avista Public Acquisition Corp. II (APAC) (NASDAQ: AHPA), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), remains on track to close in the fourth quarter of 2022. Under the terms of the separation and distribution agreement between Ligand and OmniAb, the milestone payments related to the first commercial sale of TECVAYLI will remain with the OmniAb business regardless of timing and achievement of the milestone and the timing of the merger closing. The license agreement between OmniAb and CNA Development LLC does not include royalty payments, and OmniAb will not receive royalties on sales of TECVAYLI.

About OmniAb

The OmniAb discovery platform provides Ligand’s pharmaceutical industry partners access to the diverse antibody repertoires and high-throughput screening technologies to enable discovery of next-generation therapeutics. At the heart of the OmniAb platform is the Biological Intelligence (BI) of our proprietary transgenic animals, including OmniRat, OmniChicken and OmniMouse that have been genetically modified to generate antibodies with human sequences to facilitate development of human therapeutic candidates. OmniFlic (transgenic rat) and OmniClic (transgenic chicken) address industry needs for bispecific antibody applications though a common light chain approach, and OmniTaur features unique structural attributes of cow antibodies for complex targets. We believe the OmniAb animals comprise the most diverse host systems available in the industry and they are optimally leveraged through computational antigen design and immunization methods, paired with high-throughput single B cell phenotypic screening and mining of next-generation sequencing datasets with custom algorithms to identify fully human antibodies with superior performance and developability characteristics. An established core competency focused on ion channels and transporters further differentiates our technology and creates opportunities in emerging target classes. OmniAb antibodies have been leveraged across modalities, including bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates and others. The OmniAb suite of technologies span from BI-powered repertoire generation to cutting edge antibody discovery and optimization offering a highly efficient and customizable end-to-end solution for the growing discovery needs of the global pharmaceutical industry.

Alaunos Therapeutics to Present at the CRI-ENCI-AACR Sixth International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference

On August 24, 2022 Alaunos Therapeutics, Inc. ("Alaunos" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: TCRT), a clinical-stage oncology-focused cell therapy company, reported that it has been accepted to present a proffered talk at the CRI-ENCI-AACR Sixth International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference (CIMT) (Free CIMT Whitepaper) (CICON) being held in New York, NY from September 28 – October 1, 2022 (Press release, Alaunos Therapeutics, AUG 24, 2022, View Source [SID1234618608]).

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Details of the presentation are as follows:

Title: Objective clinical response by KRAS mutation-specific TCR-T cell therapy in previously treated advanced Non-small cell lung cancer

Presenter: Marcelo V. Negrao, MD, Department of Thoracic-Head & Neck Med Onc, Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Date and Time: Friday, September 30, 2022, 8:30am ET

Session Title: Session 6: Cellular Therapies: Engineering T cells

PDS Biotech Completes $35 Million Financing Agreement Led By Horizon Technology Finance

On August 24, 2022 PDS Biotechnology Corporation (Nasdaq: PDSB), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing a growing pipeline of molecularly targeted cancer immunotherapies and infectious disease vaccines based on the Company’s proprietary Versamune and Infectimune T cell activating technologies, reported that it has entered into a debt financing agreement led by Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: HRZN) ("Horizon") to provide up to a $35.0 million term loan (Press release, PDS Biotechnology, AUG 24, 2022, View Source [SID1234618607]).

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"We are pleased to partner with Horizon, a leading specialty finance company that has an extensive history of supporting innovative life science companies," said Frank Bedu-Addo, Chief Executive Officer of PDS Biotech. "We anticipate a number of important milestones across our oncology and infectious disease programs. This transaction immediately strengthens our balance sheet and provides the financial resources necessary to advance the company’s clinical pipeline. We look forward to our meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this quarter to discuss the registrational trial design for our lead program."

As part of the financing, PDS Biotech received an initial tranche of $25 million at the close. The Company has an option to receive an additional $10 million. Each advance of the loan will be repaid in 48 monthly payments consisting of 24 monthly payments of interest only, followed by 24 monthly payments of principal and accrued interest. In connection with the financing, PDS Biotech issued Horizon warrants to purchase up to 4% of the loan amount, 381,625 of its common shares at an exercise price of $3.6685 per share. Proceeds will be used to support the ongoing clinical development of PDS0101 and other product candidates within the company’s pipeline and for general working capital purposes.

Further information with respect to the debt financing agreement with Horizon will be contained in a current report to be filed on Form 8-K by PDS Biotechnology with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Conference Call and Webcast
The conference call is scheduled for Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 8:00 AM EDT. Participants should dial 877-407-3088 (United States) or 201-389-0927 (International) and reference conference ID 13732262. To access the webcast, please use the following link. The event will be archived in the investor relations section of PDS Biotech’s website for six months.