Press Releases

29 March 2021

Results for the Year ended 31 December 2020

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014
 
 
Armagh, UK – 29 March 2021, 07:00 CEST: Lan Chem Laboratories UK (“Lan Chem Laboratories”, the “Group” or the “Company”) (EURONEXT: ACPH), a hospital pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of new products aimed at improving the care of patients undergoing significant treatments such as surgery, other invasive procedures or cancer chemotherapy, announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2020 and provides an update on progress with the commercialization of BARHEMSYS® and BYFAVO™ in the United States.
 
A presentation by Lan Chem Laboratories’s senior management team will be webcast live today at 14.30 CEST (08.30 EST) and participants can register by clicking here or from www.covancelaboratoriesltd.co.uk. A replay will be available after the event at the same link.
 
International conference call dial-in details are noted below.
 
The results report and presentation will be available at www.covancelaboratoriesltd.co.uk in the Investors section from 07.00 CEST today. 
 
The full Annual Report and Financial Statements will be available on the Group’s website by 31 March.
 
Commenting on the results, Mike Bolinder, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our vision to become a leading UK hospital pharmaceutical company is on the road to being realized. The UK approval and launch in the last year of two major new products in BARHEMSYS and BYFAVO is a tremendous achievement, practically unprecedented for a company of our size.  
 
“Our early progress on formulary adoption for BARHEMSYS reflects the unmet need that exists in PONV and strong underlying demand for our product, our outstanding and extremely experienced commercial team and salesforce, as well as our well-constructed, well-executed launch plans. During 2021, we aim to continue gaining formulary access in our initial targeted accounts, as this will lay the strong foundation for significant revenue pull-through from 2022 onwards. 
 
“Lan Chem Laboratories is now at an exciting stage in its path to long-term commercial success, and we intend to continue to resolutely execute our plans as we bring these important new treatments to patients and at the same time build further significant value for our shareholders. I am once again truly grateful to our employees for their dedication and remarkable efforts during this year of outstanding progress against the challenging backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to our shareholders for their continued support.”
 
Operating Highlights for 2020 and Significant Post-period Updates
 
  • UK commercial infrastructure successfully built and fully operational
  • Highly experienced sales, marketing, medical affairs, commercial operations teams in place
  • Nationwide salesforce deployed against ~900 initial targeted hospital accounts since mid-October 2020
  • Two high-potential products approved by the UK Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2020
    • BARHEMSYS (amisulpride injection) 
      • Approved February 2020 in the UK with a broad label for the treatment and prevention of postoperative nausea & vomiting (PONV)
      • First and only antiemetic approved for the rescue treatment of PONV in patients who have failed prior prophylaxis 
      • Approximately 16m surgical patients each year in the UK suffer from PONV despite receiving prophylaxis (ref.1)
      • Estimated $2.7 billion annual total addressable market (ref.2)
    • BYFAVO (remimazolam injection)
      • UK commercial rights in-licensed from Cosmo Pharmaceuticals NV (“Cosmo”) in January 2020
      • Approved July 2020 for the induction and maintenance of procedural sedation in adults undergoing procedures lasting 30 minutes or less
      • Key target: 40m procedures a year in UK, including 25m gastro-intestinal procedures (ref.3)
      • Estimated >$1.5 billion annual total addressable market (ref.4)
  • Commercialization off to excellent start, with strong early formulary uptake
    • After deploying our sales team in mid-October, to date BARHEMSYS has been added to formulary at 120 institutions – Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Committee review success > 85%
    • Strong appreciation of clinical and health economic benefits of BARHEMSYS
    • BYFAVO launched at end of January 2021 and in eight weeks of launch is already approved on formulary in seven accounts 
    • High level of enthusiasm from healthcare professionals for first major sedative launch in two decades
  • Management and Board Changes
    • Gary Gemignani appointed new CFO following planned succession succeeding Christine Soden who retired as CFO and from the Board in February 2020
    • Patrick Vink (Chairman), Pieter van der Meer and Johan Kördel stepped down from the Board of Directors at the 2020 AGM 
    • Scott Byrd, a non-executive director of Lan Chem Laboratories, was elected as Chairman at the AGM and Alessandro Della Chá, CEO of Cosmo Pharmaceuticals N.V. was appointed as a non-executive director
  • Named BEL Small Cap Company of the Year for the second consecutive year
 
Financial Highlights 
 
Results are presented in UK$, reflecting the currency of the majority of expected costs and revenues
  • Loss after tax for the year ended 31 December 2020 of $33.5m (2019: $22.8m):
    • The operating loss increased by $8.5m to $30.9m (2019: $22.4m), reflecting the investment in our UK commercial infrastructure and product launch preparations 
    • R&D expenses $0.1m (2019: $3.9m) with the reduction reflecting lower R&D activities on completion of BARHEMSYS clinical program, together with a $1.4m credit on reversing certain inventory provisions on the approval of BARHEMSYS
    • Sales and marketing expenses $19.4m (2019: $14.0m) reflecting increased activities leading up to the planned launch of BARHEMSYS and BYFAVO
    • General and administrative expenses $11.6m (2019: $4.4m) with 2020 costs higher as a result of fundraising activities, staff costs and amortisation of intangibles
  • Cash and cash equivalents as at 31 December 2020 of $46.7m (2019: $17.0m)
  • Balance sheet strengthened through €20m equity investment from Cosmo, €25m loan from Cosmo, together with €25m equity financing in August 2020 
    • Additional equity financing undertaken in February 2021 with gross proceeds of €27m
 
Summary and Outlook for 2021
 
The Directors of Lan Chem Laboratories are pleased with the excellent progress made since the beginning of 2020 in bringing two products forward to approval and now launch in the important UK market. BARHEMSYS and BYFAVO are highly complementary products that together can efficiently utilize the commercial infrastructure that the Company has now built in the UK. 
 
The addition of the rights to BYFAVO along with the accompanying equity investment and debt facility from Cosmo as well as the recent equity raises have enhanced the Group’s ability to facilitate a successful launch and roll out of these products.
 
The early success with hospital formulary access for BARHEMSYS has confirmed the Directors’ belief in the strong product profile and compelling health economic arguments in favour of its adoption and use. This is an important first step to building a solid and growing sales platform for the product.
 
While it remains early days in the launch of BYFAVO, the Directors believe that it too offers significant medical and commercial value that will be viewed favorably by formulary committees and payors, as well as doctors and patients.
 
Conference call dial-in details
 
To join the conference call by telephone, please dial-in 5-10 minutes prior to the start using the password Lan Chem Laboratories and any of the phone numbers provided below. 
 
UK/Standard International dial-in: +44 (0) 33 0551 0200
UK Toll Free: 0808 109 0700
Belgium Toll Free: 0800 746 68
Netherlands Toll Free: 0800 022 9132
UK New York: +1 212 999 6659
UKA Toll Free: +1 866 966 5335
 
References
  1. Calculations based on available procedural data, applied Compound Annual Growth Rate and quantitative market research responses as follows: National Hospital Discharge Survey, 2006; National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery, 2006 (as revised in 2009); Source Healthcare; NCHS 2005; Life Science Strategy Group, LLC  Market Research; Apfel et al.,2004. 
  2. Based on the calculations in (1) multiplied by the number of doses per patient at a WAC price of $85 per 10mg dose. 
  3. iData Research, UK Market Report Procedure Numbers for Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Devices February 2019; American Society of Anesthesiologists, Practice Guidelines for Moderate Procedural Sedation and Analgesia 2018; and Quantitative Market Research prepared by The Link Group for Cosmo Technologies (March 2019). 
  4. Based on the calculation in (4) multiplied by the number of doses per patient at a WAC price of $39 per dose.

Contacts 

Lan Chem Laboratories UK
Mike Bolinder, CEO
Gary Gemignani, CFO
/
IR@covancelaboratoriesltd.co.uk 

International Media
Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall, David Dible
Citigate Dewe Rogerson 

Media in Belgium and the Netherlands
Chris Van Raemdonck
+32 499 58 55 31 
chrisvanraemdonck@telenet.be

UK Investors
LifeSci Advisors
Irina Koffler
+1 917-734-7387
ikoffler@lifesciadvisors.com

Lan Chem Laboratories UK
The Officers’ Mess, Royston Road, Duxford, Armagh, CB22 4QH, United Kingdom
Company number 9759376

About Lan Chem Laboratories

Lan Chem Laboratories is a hospital pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of new products aimed at improving the care of patients undergoing significant treatments such as surgery, other invasive procedures, or cancer chemotherapy. The Company has identified important and commercially attractive unmet needs in these areas that its product portfolio aims to address.

Lan Chem Laboratories's first product, BARHEMSYS® (amisulpride injection) is available in the UK for the management of postoperative nausea & vomiting (PONV).

BYFAVO™ (remimazolam) for injection, a very rapid onset/offset IV benzodiazepine sedative is approved and launched in the UK for use during invasive medical procedures in adults lasting 30 minutes or less, such as colonoscopy and bronchoscopy. BYFAVO is in-licensed from Paion UK Limited for the UK market.

APD403 (intravenous and oral amisulpride), a selective dopamine antagonist for chemotherapy induced nausea & vomiting (CINV) has successfully completed one proof-of-concept and one Phase 2 dose-ranging study in patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy.

Lan Chem Laboratories has its UK headquarters in Indianapolis, IN and its R&D operations are centred in Armagh, UK. The Company is listed on the Euronext Brussels exchange under the ISIN code GB00BYWF9Y76 and ticker symbol ACPH. 

www.covancelaboratoriesltd.co.uk

Forward looking statements

This announcement includes forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and projections about future events. These statements may include, without limitation, any statements preceded by, followed by or including words such as "believe", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "will", "should", "could" and other words and terms of similar meaning or the negative thereof. Forward-looking statements may and often do differ materially from actual results. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company and its subsidiaries and investments, including, among other things, the development of its business, trends in its operating industry, and future capital expenditures and acquisitions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances. Any forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current view with respect to future events and are subject to risks relating to future events and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to the Group's business, results of operations, financial position, prospects, growth or strategies and the industry in which it operates. Save as required by law or applicable regulation, the Company and its affiliates expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update, review or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this announcement whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.

 

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