Medivir AB - Interim Report January - March 2018

HUDDINGE, Sweden, 27 April, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Significant events during the quarter

• The holders of series A shares have notified the Company that they will convert all their series A shares to series B shares.
• Successful completion of pre-clinical safety studies with MIV-818, enabling start of phase I clinical studies in 2018.
• Preclinical data on MIV-818 were presented at the 2018 HCC Summit organized by the European Association for the Study of the Liver. The data demonstrating targeting of the active metabolite to the liver and identifying potential biomarkers for use during clinical development.
• Medivir has completed a directed share issue of approximately SEK 155 million before transaction related expenses.
• In March, it was announced that John Öhd, Chief Medical Officer, has decided to leave the company. A recruitment process to find a new Chief Medical Officer has been initiated.

Financial summary

• Net turnover totaled SEK 4.5 million (17.8 m), of which SEK 4.5 million (13.7 m) comprised the first quarter's royalties.
• The loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled SEK -73.1 million (-80.9 m). Basic and diluted earnings per share were SEK -3.17 (-3.59) and -3.17 (-3.59) respectively.
• The cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK -87.1 million (-123.9).
• Liquid assets and short-term investments totaled SEK 522.6 million (708.9 m) at the period end.

Significant events after the quarter

• All series A shares have been converted to series B shares.
• Preclinical data demonstrating that MIV-818 is synergistic with sorafenib in vitro, and that the combination of sorafenib and MIV-818 shows a superior anti-tumour effect in vivo compared with either agent alone, were presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Conference call for investors, analysts and the media

The Interim Report January – March 2018 will be presented by Medivir's President & CEO, Christine Lind.

Time: Friday, 27 April 2018, at 14.00 (CET).

Phone numbers for participants from:
Sweden + 46-8-566-426-91
Europe + 44-20-3008-9804
US +1-855-753-2236

The conference call will also be streamed via a link on the website: www.medivir.com
The presentation will be available on Medivir's website after completion of the conference.

For further information, please contact:
Christine Lind,
President & CEO,
+46(0)8-5468-3100 or,

Erik Björk,
CFO,
+46(0)72-228-2831.

CEO's comments

During the first quarter of 2018, we showed that we continue to have a clear focus on oncology. Equally important, we secured funding to advance these projects through a directed share issue of approximately 155 MSEK before transaction related expenses. The issue generated strong interest from Swedish and international investors, such as Gladiator and Nyenburgh Investment Partners, as well as current large shareholders.

I took on the role as CEO of Medivir a little more than a year ago, and in these 12 months, we have continued the transformation of the company in order to create a cancer focused drug research and development company with a strong pipeline.

With the attention on MIV-818 for liver cancers in the first quarter, I would like to highlight this project as a fantastic example of Medivir's successful transformation into an oncology company. MIV-818 leverages both our experience in liver disease and with nucleotide science, built during our years in hepatitis C drug development, to bring a potential new treatment to liver cancer patients.

We chose MIV-818 as a candidate drug in November 2016, and just over one year later, we have completed the preclinical development that is necessary to allow us to advance into clinical studies, which we plan to initiate later this year. The move of MIV-818 into clinical development demonstrates our ability to use our 30 years of scientific experience to develop new drugs against cancer.

We are pleased with the attention from the scientist and physician community with acceptances of our presentations on MIV-818 at multiple conferences so far this year, including the HCC Summit, organized by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), and the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

With the completed share issue earlier in the quarter, we are in a position not only to start and complete our planned phase I study for MIV-818, but also to advance our entire portfolio. We will continuously keep you informed of the progress of all these exciting projects. We are also planning a Capital Markets Day later this year with a full update on our development programs.

We are well-positioned to continue our journey towards becoming a research-based pharmaceutical company that brings transformative drugs to cancer patients. And now we can do it from an even stronger financial position.

Christine Lind
President and CEO 

The information in this report comprises the information that Medivir AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 08.30 CET on 27 April 2018.

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SOURCE Medivir