Michele Garufi, Chairman and CEO of Nicox, said: “In 2013 and in the first quarter of 2014, we have made substantial and tangible progress in delivering our strategy to position Nicox as an emerging international ophthalmic Company. We have established our commercial presence in the United States and in four of the five most important European markets, attracting highly experienced management and sales teams, and broadened our presence through distribution agreements with high quality partners in other key international markets. The acquisition of Eupharmed has strengthened our presence in Italy, one of the largest ophthalmology markets in Europe.
To complement this infrastructure, we are rapidly building a diversified portfolio of ophthalmic products, including our own range of dry eye lubricants under the proprietary brand name Xailin™ recently launched in Europe. Our innovative product range gives us access to several of the most important ophthalmic areas: RetnaGene™ AMD is the most advanced test to evaluate the risk of progression of AMD, a condition which affects approximately 15 million Americans1; Sjö™ is the first specific test for early detection of Sjögren’s Syndrome, a serious and underdiagnosed autoimmune disease; and AdenoPlus® enables differentiated diagnosis of conjunctivitis. Our proprietary compound latanoprostene bunod continues to progress in Phase 3 trials for glaucoma with our partner Bausch + Lomb. The glaucoma market is expected to be worth more than $3 billion by 20152 and latanoprostene bunod is the only compound that showed superiority to Xalatan® in a robust Phase 2b study.
With several further acquisition and in-licensing discussions underway, as well as a promising internal development pipeline, we believe we are well-placed for further significant progress in 2014.”
Evelyne Nguyen, Chief Financial Officer of Nicox, said: “In 2013, Nicox focused its efforts on establishing its commercial organization in the United States and the five major European markets. In addition, the Company continued to seek new ophthalmic products through partnerships and acquisitions. This resulted in the acquisition of Eupharmed in Italy and the in-licensing of RetnaGene™ AMD from Sequenom, helping us to both increase our geographic presence and bring new and innovative products to the portfolio. The acquisition of Eupharmed was performed with the issue of new shares, demonstrating their confidence in the Group’s commercial potential and allowing us to build shareholder value while carefully controlling our cash burn.
As of December 31, 2013, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and financial instruments of over €58 million, which gives us the means to continue to pursue our commercial activities and to continue to make significant investments in our marketing infrastructure in 2014. We look forward to a full-year contribution to our 2014 results from newly launched or acquired products and businesses, including Eupharmed.”