Oslo, 20 March 2020: Ultimovacs ASA (“Ultimovacs”, ticker ULTIMO), a pharmaceutical company developing novel immunotherapies against cancer, announces possible implications of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Ultimovacs has a strong cash position giving a good foundation for executing the current development plan. The coronavirus pandemic has a profound impact on the global economy and hardly any industry seem to be protected from operational and financial consequences. For a biotech company like Ultimovacs, some of the possible implications of the COVID-19 pandemic will be:
1. The initiation, patient inclusion and conduct of clinical trials will be affected. Hospital personnel and other resources are currently being redirected from clinical trials to other areas. This applies both to hospitals were the clinical trials will be run and to laboratories performing certain services as part of the clinical trial.
Ultimovacs has previously communicated that the inclusion of the first patient was expected during Q1 2020 in both the INITIUM trial (randomized phase II trial in malignant melanoma) and the NIPU trial (randomized phase II trial in mesothelioma). However, an immediate consequence of the coronavirus pandemic is that clinical trial activities and patient inclusion is now put on hold. The overall activitation of sites and patient recruitment in the two phase II trials is currently unclear. Ultimovacs will continue to make all preparations and take all reasonable measures to ensure that the completion of these trials is delayed as little as possible. In the ongoing phase I trial in malignant melanoma in the US, patient recruiting in cohort 2 is still active. Inclusion of cohort 1 in this trial is completed as previously announced, and 1-year safety and efficacy endpoints will be reported H2-2020.
2. The supply chain for the investigational products may be interrupted, either at the manufacturing site or with respect to logistical operations. Short-term, Ultimovacs expects supplies of investigational products to be under control.
Ultimovacs expects the main consequences of the coronovirus pandemic to be implications on timing and costs.
For further information, please see www.ultimovacs.com or contact:
Øyvind Kongstun Arnesen, CEO oeyvind.arnesen@ultimovacs.com, +47 469 33 810
Hans Vassgård Eid, CFO hans.eid@ultimovacs.com, +47 469 19 822