Archive: Company News
Company News: Curetis Strengthens Executive Team; Appoints Dr. Achim Plum as Chief Commercial Officer
– Former Siemens Healthcare manager adds broad expertise in molecular diagnostics, sales, marketing, and business development
Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced Dr. Achim Plum has been appointed to the newly-created role of Chief Commercial Officer. Dr. Plum joins Curetis from a senior management position at Siemens, where he focused on the assessment and development of novel approaches to the in vitro diagnostic (IVD) market. He will oversee all commercial activities, including international sales, business development, marketing and medical affairs.
Dr. Plum will focus on the continued expansion of Curetis’ commercial organization and infrastructure with the goal of achieving aggressive revenue growth targets in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. He will also establish a U.S.-based commercial team to support the launch of the Unyvero Solution following FDA approval.
Prior to his position at Siemens, Dr. Plum spent eight years in various commercial roles at Epigenomics, a publicly-traded molecular diagnostics company, most recently as Senior Vice President Business and Strategy. At Epigenomics, he built sales and marketing teams and distribution networks in Europe and the U.S., negotiated strategic commercial agreements with leading diagnostics industry players and led the public company’s corporate communications and compliance functions. He brings significant capital markets experience through his involvement in multiple financing transactions with U.S. and international investors.
Company News: Oberland Capital Raises $425 Million Healthcare Royalty and Credit Opportunities Fund
– Significantly Exceeds Target –
Oberland Capital, an investment firm focused on the global healthcare industry, announced today the closing of its inaugural royalty and credit opportunities fund, Oberland Capital Healthcare, with $425 million in capital commitments.
Oberland Capital provides healthcare companies, institutions and inventors customized financing solutions with an emphasis on the biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic sectors. The fund targets investments ranging from $15 million to $100 million and has the ability to execute substantially larger transactions.
“We are grateful for the support shown by our limited partners in helping us to significantly surpass the $350 million target size for our first fund. The strong response from investors is a testament to the quality and experience of our investment team and the demand for non-correlated investment strategies. We look forward to building a diversified portfolio of attractive healthcare investments,” said Andrew Rubinstein, Managing Partner.
The development and commercialization of breakthrough medical technologies is highly capital intensive, creating a large market opportunity for Oberland Capital Healthcare. “Our flexible, long-term financing solutions provide an attractive source of capital to healthcare companies, institutions and inventors,” added Jean-Pierre Naegeli, Managing Partner. “We are excited to work with our transaction partners worldwide to enable them to meet their strategic and financial objectives.”
Investors in Oberland Capital Healthcare include public and corporate pension plans, financial institutions, foundations and endowments located throughout the United States and Europe.
Company News: Curetis Expands Commercial Organization
– Augmented direct sales force, led by new Head of International Sales to broaden reach in key European markets
– New distribution partnerships in Italy and Middle East
Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced the strategic expansion of its sales and marketing program in Europe and the Middle East. The company appointed Klaudija Kiesinger as Head of International Sales for Western Europe and will add four new members to its broader international sales and marketing team by mid-year, bringing the total commercial team size to 14. With this sales force expansion, Curetis has added the U.K., France and the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) to its direct-sales markets.
In addition, the Company announced its increased reach into Italy and the Middle East with exclusive, multi-year distribution partnerships. Curetis will distribute the Unyvero Solution through Arrow Diagnostics in Italy and Al Zahrawi Medical in the Middle East (Qatar and the United Arab Emirates).
Since 2012, Curetis has grown to an installed base of more than 60 Unyvero analyzers. The Company currently has 80 systems in the supply chain for 2015, affording customers the potential to run assays covering more than 100 analytes in two highly-multiplexed application cartridges (P55 for pneumonia and i60 for implant and tissue infections). In 2015, the Unyvero product pipeline will be expanded and enhanced by the BC70 Blood Culture Application cartridge. In the coming years, Curetis plans to add further cartridge applications in the fields of sepsis, gastrointestinal tract infections, tuberculosis, CNS infections and pediatrics, among others.
At present, there are several investigator-initiated clinical studies in pediatric applications underway. Various potential pharma projects using Unyvero in clinical trial designs for the development of novel antibiotics afford Curetis additional opportunities for commercial expansion.
In addition to these platform and product enhancements, the Company is expanding its geographic scope, with an FDA trial underway in the U.S. and pre-commercial activities in Asia and other non-European countries.
Company News: Curetis to Launch Next-Generation Pneumonia Application at ECCMID 2015
– Company Successfully Completes Clinical CE Performance Evaluation of Unyvero P55 Pneumonia Application
– Clinical sensitivity across 40-marker panel averages 94% at 99.4% specificity
Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced the successful completion of the clinical and analytical CE performance evaluation of its next-generation Unyvero P55 Pneumonia Application. The upgraded cartridge will launch at the 25th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID, April 25 – 28, 2015 in Copenhagen, Denmark) and is supported by more than 800 cartridge runs and over 400 patient samples.
Unyvero P55, which is replacing the current P50 cartridge, identified a total of 127 additional pathogens compared to microbiology culture. Discrepant results have been resolved by independent PCR and sequencing and validated 93 cases as true positives, e.g. cases where traditional microbiology culture missed the pathogen.
The Unyvero P55 Pneumonia Application demonstrates superiority over culture and key enhancements compared to the P50 cartridge, evidenced by pathogen and resistance expansions and improved sensitivity proven in the CE clinical performance study. Specific upgrades include:
- Expansion to detect 21 pathogens, including new targets Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter aerogenes and Klebsiella variicola
- Addition of critical antibiotic resistance markers (now a total of 19), including genes coding for carbapenem (imp, ndm, vim, oxa-23, oxa-24, oxa-48, and oxa-58 markers) and oxacillin (mecC) resistance
- Improvements to sensitivity for several analytes, i.e.
- Greater than 90% for most pathogens on the P55 panel, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa
- Greater than 92% for Staphylococcus aureus
- Near 100% for Pneumocystis, E. coli and Moraxella catharralis.
Comprehensive data supporting the next-generation Pneumonia Application will be presented at ECCMID.
The European and international roll out (excluding North America) commences in April 2015. Pricing for the P55 Pneumonia Application remains unchanged from the P50 cartridge. In the U.S., the P55 is being used under the label LRT55 as a Lower Respiratory Tract (LRT) Application in a U.S. FDA clearance trial, which is expected to be completed in 2016.