Ergomed 2014 Business Update

RNS Number : 5743C

Ergomed plc

20 January 2015

 



Ergomed 2014 Business Update

Expected revenue growth of 14%

40% increase in new contracts won in H2 2014

Guildford, UK - 20 January 2015:  Ergomed plc, (LSE: ERGO or 'Ergomed') a profitable UK-based company, dedicated to the provision of specialised services to the pharmaceutical industry and the development of new drugs, provides a business update for the 12 month period ending 31 December 2014.

The company had a successful year with a total of £26.8 million of contracts won in 2014. As previously reported, £11.2 million of contracts were signed in the first half of 2014 and a further £15.6 million won in the second half of the year, a 40% increase, reflecting strong demand across all divisions and Ergomed's well-established market position. Contract wins include new clients as well as a healthy proportion of repeat business. Pro-forma revenues, based on the acquisition of PrimeVigilance, for 2014 are in line with Board expectations at approximately £22 million, up 14% from £19.2 million in 2013.

The 2014 contract wins include several multi-million pound full service Phase II and Phase III studies, full service pharmacovigilance services to late stage biotech and pharma companies and a new co-development deal with Ferrer in insomnia that will start Phase II clinical studies in Q1 2015. The majority of these contracts are already in process and are scheduled to be completed over the next few years. Ergomed ended 2014 with a total backlog of contracted work from all its business segments with a value to be invoiced in the future of approximately £60 million. This strong close to the year has been driven by the continued recognition of the benefits of Ergomed's approach to drug development, co-development and drug safety services from new and existing partners.

Ergomed's four ongoing, late stage co-development projects progressed well in 2014 and the company is looking forward to further progress in 2015, as well as the signing of additional co-development partnerships. The status of the four current partnerships is summarised below.

·      Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS, TSX: AEZ): Phase III trial with zoptarelin doxorubicin in endometrial cancer - sites initiation completed with over 120 sites currently in operation; patient recruitment on track with over 350 of the expected 500 patients entered into the trial. Encouragingly, Aeterna Zentaris signed a Master Collaboration Agreement for zoptarelin doxorubicin in China with Sinopharm A-Think in December 2014 and Ergomed will receive a single digit percentage of any net income from this China deal under the AEZS co-development agreement.

·      Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: SNTA): Phase III of ganetespib in non-small cell lung cancer is underway as well as several other earlier phase studies of ganetespib.  Ergomed and Synta worked as co-development partners on the previous successful Phase II study.

·      CEL-SCI Corp. (NYSE MKT: CVM): Phase III trial of Multikine in head and neck cancer is proceeding well and at end of 2014, 328 patients out of a targeted 880 had been recruited at over 100 sites.

·      Ferrer: Ergomed is on track to start the Phase II study in insomnia with first patient dosed early in 2015. Site selection and initiation has commenced and the study is on plan.

The company will provide further details on the year-end performance at its 2014 Preliminary Results at the end of March.

Commenting on the 2014 Business Update, Dr Miroslav Reljanovic, CEO of Ergomed plc said: "Ergomed has delivered further growth in 2014. I am very pleased with year on year revenue growth of 14% and the 40% increase in new contracts won in the second half of 2014. The advances achieved in our co-development pipeline are encouraging and we are in active discussions with a number of co-development partners and expect to announce new partnerships in 2015. We also continue to review potential strategic acquisition targets from the services sector as part of our global expansion.

"With a significant proportion of revenue already secured for 2015 and a promising late stage co-development pipeline, Ergomed is well placed to continue to grow and develop its strategy as outlined at its IPO in July 2014 and I look forward to 2015 and beyond with confidence."

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Hume Brophy

Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur and Hollie Vile

Tel: + 44 203 440 5654

[e-mail]

About Ergomed

Ergomed Plc is a profitable UK-based company, providing drug development services to the pharmaceutical industry and has a growing portfolio of co-development partnerships. It operates in over 40 countries. 

Ergomed provides clinical development, trial management and pharmacovigilance services to over 60 clients ranging from top 10 pharmaceutical companies to small and mid-sized drug development companies. Ergomed successfully manages clinical development from Phase I through to late phase programmes.

Ergomed has a wide therapeutic focus, with a particular expertise in oncology, neurology and immunology and the development of orphan drugs. Ergomed believes its approach to clinical trials is differentiated from that of other providers by its innovative Study Site Management model and the use of Study Physician Teams, resulting in a close relationship between Ergomed and the physicians involved in clinical trials.

As well as providing high quality clinical development services, Ergomed is building a portfolio of co-development partnerships with pharma and biotech companies which share the risks and rewards of drug development. Ergomed leverages its expertise and services in return for carried interest in the drugs under development.  For further information, visit: http://ergomedplc.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained within the announcement are forward looking statements and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the potential returns of Ergomed plc ("Ergomed") and industry and markets in which Ergomed operates, the Directors' beliefs and assumptions made by the Directors. Words such as "expects", "anticipates", "should", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "projects", "pipeline" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward looking statements and expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or the ability to identify and consummate investments and involve certain risks, uncertainties, outcomes of negotiations and due diligence and assumptions that are difficult to predict, qualify or quantify. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward looking statements or expectations. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are: the general economic climate, competition, interest rate levels, loss of key personnel, the result of legal and commercial due diligence, the availability of financing on acceptable terms and changes in the legal or regulatory environment.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. Ergomed expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Ergomed's expectations with regard thereto, any new information or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based, unless required to do so by law or any appropriate regulatory authority.

 

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