Oslo, Norway, 4 November 2021 – Targovax ASA (OSE: TRVX), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing immune activators to target hard-to-treat solid tumors, today announces its third quarter 2021 results. Targovax’s CEO will give an online presentation and update on the clinical program to investors, analysts and the press at 10:00 CET today (details below).
THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Received acceptance of two posters to be presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting in November
- Presented poster at European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)
- Received European Patent for ONCOS-102 in combination with chemotherapy
- Announced Dr Lone Ottesen’s appointment as Chief Development Officer and Ola Melin as Head of Manufacturing
POST-PERIOD HIGHLIGHTS
In October, Dr. Erik Digman Wiklund was appointed as new Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Wiklund has a strong scientific background in cancer research, and intimate knowledge of the company and its technology having served as Chief Business Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Targovax since 2017. Former CEO Øystein Soug will remain with the company following the appointment of Dr. Wiklund. Mr. Soug will act as a special advisor and also serve as interim CFO providing important strategic and management continuum for the company.
KEY FIGURES
| Amounts in NOK thousands | 3Q 2021 | 3Q 2020 | 9M 2021 | 9M 2020 | FY 2020 |
| Total operating revenues | – | 34 | – | 624 | 624 |
| Total operating expenses | -22 539 | -22 073 | -70 078 | -81 652 | -104 524 |
| Operating profit/loss | -22 539 | -22 039 | -70 078 | -81 028 | -103 901 |
| Net financial items | -781 | -718 | -1 294 | -1 089 | -4 503 |
| Income tax | 11 | 73 | 42 | 220 | 277 |
| Net profit/loss | -23 309 | -22 684 | -71 330 | -81 898 | -108 126 |
| Basic and diluted EPS (NOK/share) | -0.27 | -0.30 | -0.82 | -1.10 | -1.40 |
| Net change in cash | -17 127 | -23 808 | -68 257 | 7 228 | 51 893 |
| Cash and cash equivalents start of period | 71 192 | 101 465 | 122 321 | 70 429 | 70 429 |
| Cash and cash equivalents end of period | 54 064 | 77 657 | 54 064 | 77 657 | 122 321 |
Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO commented: “Taking over the leadership of Targovax at a time when we have demonstrated a clear signal of efficacy accompanied by a deep biomarker data package for our lead candidate ONCOS-102, is a truly exciting opportunity. The insights we have gained allow us to select the optimal combination strategy for the next development step, as well as to design innovative and differentiated second generation ONCOS vectors to shape our platform for the future.”
Presentation
We invite to a live webcast today at 10.00 CET. You can join the webcast here. It will be possible to ask questions during the presentation.
Reporting material
The quarterly report and presentation are also available at the website www.circio.com.
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For further information, please contact:
Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO
Phone: +47 413 33 536
Email: erik.wiklund@targovax.com
Renate Birkeli, Investor Relations
Phone: +47 922 61 624
Email: renate.birkeli@targovax.com
Media enquires:
Andreas Tinglum – Corporate Communications (Norway)
Phone: +47 9300 1773
Email: andreas.tinglum@corpcom.no
About Targovax
Activating the patient’s immune system to fight cancer
Targovax (OSE:TRVX) is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing immune activators to target hard-to-treat solid tumors. Targovax aims to unlock greater clinical benefits in cancer patients by deploying its multifunctional platforms to target key immune regulators and oncogenic drivers. Targovax’s focus is to “activate the patient’s immune system to fight cancer”, thus extending and transforming the lives of cancer patients. Targovax’s pipeline aims at different cancer indications, including melanoma, mesothelioma and colorectal cancer. The company’s product candidates are designed to harness the patient’s own immune system to fight the cancer, whilst also delivering a favorable safety and tolerability profile.
Targovax’s lead clinical candidate, ONCOS-102, is a genetically modified oncolytic adenovirus, which has been engineered to selectively infect cancer cells and activate the immune system to fight the cancer. On the back of very encouraging clinical data in several indications, both in monotherapy and in multiple combinations, the next development steps for ONCOS-102 will be to further improve responses in melanoma patients resistant to or poorly responsive to current standard of care.