Biovitrum Announces Future Roadmap - Increased Focus on Specialist Care Diseases
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- Category: Proteins and Peptides
- Published on Wednesday, 07 November 2007 23:41
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At its Capital Markets Day in Stockholm, the Swedish biopharma company Biovitrum announced its roadmap for creating long term value
STOCKHOLM, Sweden | November 7, 2007 | At its Capital Markets Day in Stockholm, the Swedish biopharma company Biovitrum (OMX: BVT) announced its roadmap for creating long term value. The three corner stones of the new strategy are:
-- Re-focus R&D portfolio towards projects in diseases treated by specialists, capitalizing more on its biopharmaceutical competence.
-- Develop in-house specialist care projects all the way to the market and out-license primary care R&D projects.
-- Increase revenues and expand the portfolio of marketed products through geographical expansion and by acquiring new products.
The reasoning behind the new strategy was described by Biovitrum's CEO Martin Nicklasson. In summary, Nicklasson highlighted that there are many specialist care areas with high unmet medical needs with a favourable access to market and requiring less extensive development programmes. In addition, marketing and sales effort will be more focused and less costly. It also enlarges the medical scope since both biopharmaceuticals and small molecules can be pursued.
Biovitrum also announced the exercise of its option to partner, with Syntonix/Biogen Idec, on Factor VIIIFc with prolonged half-life for the treatment of hemophilia A, aiming at significantly improving patient convenience.
"The Factor VIIIFc project fits strategically very well with our already strong commitment in the hemophilia business", commented CEO Martin Nicklasson. "Biovitrum has been very successful within this specialist care area and we will continue to develop and strengthen this position. It's an appealing area, with stable growth and the continued need for medically improved products".
The Company's hemophilia business also includes the development of Factor IXFc for the treatment of hemophilia B with significantly improved patient convenience (in co-development with Syntonix/Biogen Idec), stable revenues from ReFacto® (Factor VIII) and co-marketing rights in the Nordic countries for BeneFIX® (Factor IX).
In addition, an exposition in depth was made of eight selected key projects from the R&D portfolio:
Five specialist care projects - Kiobrina(TM), Exinalda(TM), FIXFc and Anti Rh(D) for two indications and three primary care projects - 5-HT2A in glaucoma, A2A in inflammation and leptin mimetic in obesity were covered.
A few selected key highlights from the project presentations:
Kiobrina(TM), for improving growth and development of pre-term infants, where no corresponding therapy exists today, is about to initiate clinical phase II trials in Europe.
Regarding the primary care projects to be out-licensed, it was noted that in the 5-HT2A project, the patient recruitment for the clinical phase II glaucoma study is now completed and the results are expected during the first quarter 2008.
The recruitment of patients in the A2A project clinical phase II study in diabetic neuropathic pain is advancing according to plan, and the results are expected during first half of 2008.
Finally, selected, exciting pre-clinical data was revealed and presented from the leptin mimetic project, a novel approach for the treatment of obesity.
A live broadcast from the conference will be available on Biovitrum's website at www.biovitrum.com. The presentation material from the conference will be available at www.biovitrum.com under investor relations/ presentations. A corresponding Capital Markets Day will be held in London tomorrow, on November 8.
About Biovitrum
Biovitrum is one of the largest biopharma companies in Europe. With operations in Sweden and in the UK Biovitrum conducts research and develops pharmaceuticals for unmet medical needs both for conditions that affect smaller patient populations and for common diseases. Biovitrum has currently a broad and balanced R&D portfolio with several projects in clinical and preclinical phases for a number of well defined specialist indications as well as for common diseases within obesity, diabetes, inflammation, eye and blood diseases. Biovitrum develops and produces protein-based drugs on a contractual basis and markets a range of specialist pharmaceuticals primarily in the Nordic countries. Biovitrum has revenues of approximately SEK 1.2 billion and around 500 employees. Biovitrum's share is listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm since September 15, 2006. For more information see www.biovitrum.com/.
SOURCE: BIOVITRUM