Bavarian Nordic books another $25 million for Imvamune
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Bavarian Nordic will receive a further $25 million milestone from US authorities for its Imvamune smallpox vaccine, bringing the total amount to $125 million to date. The payment was triggered by the recent submission of a clinical safety report from a large Phase II trial of the vaccine in HIV patients which is part of the regulatory package that will be used potentially to support the use of Imvamune in a declared emergency. The payments are part of the RFP-3 contract with the US government to manufacture and deliver 20 million doses of the vaccine. The company hopes to start delivering the vaccine in 2009. In other news, Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond has increased its stake in the company to more than 5.4%. The company has maintained its full year 2008 guidance, forecasting revenues of DKK180 million ($31 million) and a pretax loss of DKK255 million. The bulk of revenues will come from the RFP-3 programme. Nine-month revenue fell by 30% to DKK45 million as sales under the RFP-2 programme were lower than in the same period last year, owing to few clinical trials being completed. The company's net loss was reduced by 18% to DKK155 million. Bavarian Nordic had cash of DKK782 million as of September 30th and expects to have DKK620 million at the year end.