Yves J. Ribeill, Ph.D, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scynexis, Inc. (SCYX), announced that its SCY-078 is in Phase II at Canaccord Genuity’s 34th Annual Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.
Scynexis is a pharmaceutical company aimed at the development and commercialization of anti-infectives to address significant unmet therapeutic needs. Its lead product candidate, SCY-078, is an oral and intravenous (IV) drug for the treatment of serious and life-threatening invasive fungal infections in humans. The company also is targeting the animal health market.
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Ribeill said there is “significant unmet need” in the invasive fungal infection sector, which he said was a $3.6 billion worldwide market. The company is targeting such diseases as dry eye in humans and animals. “For the moment, we’re focused on the anti-fungal compound.” There are high mortality rates for invasive funguses like candidiasis-IC and invasive aspergillosis. Immune-suppressed people are particularly vulnerable to them.
Scynexis also has revenue-generating opportunities outside its non-core assets, with R&D platforms providing partnership opportunities, Ribeill said. Scynexis has a Cyclophilin inhibitor platform and an established animal drug discovery service, he said.
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Ian Clements, the Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AVNR), said the company is anticipating year-over-year growth of 45% in revenue. He was speaking at the Canaccord Genuity 34th Annual Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.
Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the treatment of central nervous system disorders.
Its key approved product is Nuedexta, the first FDA-approved treatment for pseudobulbar affect (PBA), acting on sigma-1 and NMDA receptors in the brain and spinal cord. The neurologic disorder causes emotional outbursts which causes incongruent laughing and crying. The product is co-promoted with Merck & Co.
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Beyond that, Clements said Avanir has a “broad pipeline across a number of assets,” including pain, mood and behavior, and movement disorders. All are unpinned by a commercial organization and research and development.
The Nuedexta franchise is growing, Clements said, experiencing “about 9% growth” in the April, 2014 to July, 2014 time frame. In its last reported quarter, Neudexta generated $26.5 million in net revenues.
The company is building up its sales team, and expects to double its institutional representatives by the end of the summer to an estimated 160 reps. It also has 72 retail sales reps. “we feel there’s a great opportunity to grow that part,” said Clements, adding that the company anticipates growing to 141 retail representatives by early December.
The company is also gathering data on a migraine product and conducting studies in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, as well as a major depressive disorder.
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Steve Skaggs, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Atmel Corporation (ATML), announced that the company has shifted to a multiyear strategy to focus on the microcontroller market. He was speaking at the Canaccord Genuity 34th Annual Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
Atmel is a designer and manufacturer of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency components. Atmel is involved providing system solutions in the industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets.
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The shift to the microcontroller market affords strong growth prospects, Skaggs said. While Atmel has a broad customer base, it sells about 75% of its revenue into the industrial, automotive and broad consumer market. “We’re not tied to any direct industry or customer,” Skaggs said. “Our largest customers are 5% of our revenue.”
Automotive has grown as a percentage of revenue over the last two years, Skaggs said, and smart energy products are also growing.
Atmel deals in 8-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers, currently a $12 billion market that Skaggs anticipates to grow to $18 billion by 2018. Atmel claims to be the third-largest supplier of legacy 8-bit controllers, with the business growing, Skaggs said. He said Atmel is the “fastest-growing” 32 bit supplier and last year released a record number of 32-bit products. “This year we’re on pace to establish another record in product introduction,” Skaggs said.
There is also a robust developer community at Atmel, with 65,000 users of Atmel Studio, a software tool that aids design. Ap store Atmel Gallery also offer over 200,000 downloads of code samples, some free and others for sale. “There’s a strong correlation between design activity and future revenue,” Skaggs said.
Skaggs also pointed out that connected devices (termed IoT for “Internet of Things”) is seen as an emerging trend that can add significant growth to the company. “We see it as a market that permeates all smart electronic devices,” Skaggs said, noting a number of industrial, medical and home automation devices, including smart lighting, building automation, patient monitoring, measurement of bodily diagnostics, smart meters, thermostats and appliances, among many other items. The company recently acquired Newport Media to bolster its technology expertise into IoT devices.
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Mike Herring, CFO of Pandora Media Inc. (P), said new management hires would strengthen the company’s strategies going forward. He was speaking at the Canaccord Genuity 34th Annual Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.
Pandora (P) is a streaming service that provides music and comedy programming through Internet connected devices. The company offers personalized stations with the input of a single “seed” – a favorite artist, song or genre from the company’s more than one million available tracks. The company has over 70 million active listeners, Herring said, while 250 million have registered accounts.
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“The phase we’re going in from the management perspective is setting ourselves up for the next phase of growth in the business.” Herring pointed to the recent hiring of David Gerbitz, formerly of Yahoo!, as the Pandora EVP of Revenue Operations as an example of what he meant. “He has lots of experience in scaling large. It was important for Pandora to have that kind of expertise in a senior role as we look to optimize the way we sell advertising across multiple platforms.”
Herring said potential international expansion of the service is “a lot harder than people think. Our mission statement is to be a global service. We would like to think it’s inevitable. (But) there are more than a few things we need to accomplish to get there.” Herring said the licenses available internationally are not “attractive from a financial standpoint. We only want to go international to build a meaningful, profitable business. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.”
The company had added programming since Q4 of 2013, and said that the advertising focus will be on increasing local advertising. The company will be focused on growing users (“we’ve grown organically to date,” Herring said) and will be spending more money in the brand market to do so.
Herring said the company is “at $43 in RPM per 1000 hours, with 10%-15% in gross margin. “That gross profitability is the key metric in understanding the gross profitability in Pandora,” Herring said.
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Jim Corbett, President and CEO of Alphatec Holdings Inc. (ATEC), announced a new product release at the Canaccord Genuity 34th Annual Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
Alphatec Spine, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphatec Holdings, Inc., is a global provider of spinal fusion technologies. The company is the sixth largest global spine company, with 80 U.S. patents. The company and its affiliates market products in the U.S. and internationally via a direct sales force and independent distributors, he said.
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Corbett introduced Arsenal, a new spinal fixation system providing a solution for complex degenerative conditions. It is in a limited market release. Alphatec has released four products in the last 12-18 months, including a method for harvesting bone graft.
Corbett said that the company expects large groups of products to be approved in Brazil and China, but sees the company’s biggest opportunity in the EU, “a market where all of our products are approved,” but without full participation in all of the countries there. While Alphatec has some direct operations in Italy and the UK, “we do intend to get those moving without aggressive spend-forward programs. Some markets we’ll enter, some we may convert.”
Corbett, who is new to the company, said the overall Alphatec focus is on “solid, repeatable execution focused on growth and improving operations.” He promised close tabs on keeping cash flow balance in check.
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Tina Jacobsen, Director of Investor Relations, NuVasive, Inc. (NUVA), announced that the company will focus next on international growth at the 34th Annual Canaccord Genuity Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
NuVasive is a medical device company focused on developing minimally disruptive surgical products and procedurally integrated solutions for the spine, she said. NuVasive’s principal product offering is based on its Maximum Access Surgery, or MAS platform, which it claims reduces surgery time and returns patients to activities faster than conventional approaches. The MAS platform combines several categories of solutions that minimize soft tissue disruption during spine surgery with maximum visualization.
She said the company’s 75 products span lumbar, thoracic and cervical applications, and include a proprietary software-driven nerve avoidance system and intra-operative monitoring support; MaXcess, a split-blade retractor system; a variety of specialized implants; and several biologic fusion enhancers.
“Today we have a clear line of sight to a much better future for NuVasis,” said Jacobsen. “Revenue growth is up 16%, year to date growth is up 13% .” Jacobsen said the company has also improved operating margins and raised its guidance. It anticipates $745 million in revenue for this year.
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While U.S. commercial insurers “highly scrutinize” procedures and have made it much more difficult for procedures, the “spine market has stabilized,” Jacobsen said. “The surgeons have learned to navigate in this market and pull together clinical evidence in support of spine fusion surgery.” Jacobsen said the company looks toward further adaptation of minimally invasive surgery.
NuVasive is “investing a lot of time and money to have a presence overseas,” said Jacobsen. “That’s been a long and gradual and thoughtful endeavor. We entered Europe first, and then the Asian Pacific market and South and Latin America.” The company started generating profit overseas last year, and Jacobsen said “we believe the level of profit will continue. That will be a driver of operating margin.”
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Patrick F. Williams, Senior VP and CFO of Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc. (ZLTQ), said the company has raised its 2014 guidance for revenue growth to between 43% to 48%. He was speaking at the Canaccord Genuity 34th Annual Growth Conference, held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
Zeltiq is the company behind CoolSculpting, a non-invasive, body-sculpting and fat reduction aesthetic treatment. Williams says the process works like this: an applicator is applied to a patient’s body over a 60-minute period to generate cold that will freeze fat cells. The fat crystallizes and over 60 to 90 days, the cells are permanently destroyed in the target area of the body. The technology is FDA approved and has been around since 2010.
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The treatment is sold primarily to a core of dermatologists and plastic surgeons, but some stores devoted solely to CoolSculpting treatments have emerged, Williams said.
“We still believe we have a long run to penetrate this untapped market,” said Williams. “CoolSculpting is the gateway drug to aesthetics, having the ability to draw new people into the aesthetic channel. We are creating the market. There was no such thing until we came along.”
Williams said the CoolSculpting technique will be used on approximately 150,000 patients in North America this year, with 2200 physicians worldwide currently using the system. There are two revenue streams: the CoolSculpting system sells for $110,000 , while the consumable products – gel pads and gel liners – sell for $125 for each single use. Practices typically mark-up that cost “five to six times,” Williams said.
A new management team took over at Zeltiq last year. The company has no debt on its balance sheet, Williams said, and is focused on expanding more internationally.
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Bruce Cozadd, Chairman and CEO of Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (JAZZ), said the company has repurchased $160 million of its own stock at the Canaccord Genuity 34th Annual Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that develops products that treat narcolepsy and pain, while aiding in oncology and psychiatric care. Its products include Xyrem (narcolepsy), Prialt (pain), Erwinaze, Caphoslo, and Prostascint (oncology), and Fazaclo, Versacloz and LuvoxCR (psychiatry).
Cozadd said Jazz Pharmaceuticals would see “30% growth over 2014” with “products we believe still have a lot of growth, high margins, and exclusivity.” The company has bought back two million shares, Cozadd said, with margins of about “44% of every dollar” and “good growth on the bottom line.”
There is “good growth in revenues on the top line, with some core franchises exhibiting strong potential going forward, an active clinical pipeline, continued focus on enhancing and protecting our intellectual property,” Cozadd said. “Revenue will go right to the bottom line.”
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The company has seen “significant growth” for its Xyrem product, Cozadd said. Jazz has expanded its sales force from 80 to 100 and is calling on more physicians to discuss narcolepsy, where “over half the market remains undiagnosed,” Cozadd claimed. “We have made strides in disease awareness.”
The company has also started to run TV spots that describe the symptoms of narcolepsy, Cozadd said. “We are seeing a significant level of interest,” Cozadd said, adding that physicians have anecdotally remarked that the number of patients inquiring about the disease has increased.
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Matt Flake, President and CEO of Q2 Holdings Inc (QTWO) shared the company’s competitive advantages and projected continued growth at the 34th annual Canaccord Genuity Global Growth Conference held this week in Boston.
The company, which went public in 2013, offers online solutions for community banking customers. Flake says no other companies are occupying the space at Q2′s level.
“People want to bank locally,” Flake explains. “They just want their local institutions to have the technology to meet their expectations.”
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Flake says there are 13,500 financial institutions that don’t have the ability to develop their own online banking platforms. To date, Q2 has less than 3% market penetration with just under 350 financial institutions, which represents 3.9 million account holders logging in over 40 million times per month and conducting over $200 billion in transactions. Flake estimates 30% market growth for Q2 annually.
Jennifer Harris, Q2’s CFO, who joined Flake at the conference, reported 35% guided growth year over year since 2007, when the company published its first earnings report. She says there are three key growth drivers: continuing to acquire new customers, increase adoption of solutions within the existing customer base, and cross-selling products to existing customers.
According to Harris, Q2’s margins are just over 40% today, but the company believes that will go to 60% quickly.
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Jeffrey L. Cleland, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Versartis, Inc. (VSAR) [NO EXCHANGE], said the company would focus on expanding opportunities for its lead compound at the Canaccord Genuity 34th Annual Growth Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
Versartis Inc. is an endocrine-focused biopharmaceutical company initially developing VRS-317, a long-acting form of recombinant human growth hormone that’s designed for the treatment of growth hormone deficiency (GHD). VRS-317 will require significantly fewer injections for patients, potentially improving compliance and treatment outcomes, he said.
The company recently completed a Phase IIa clinical trial evaluating weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly dosing regimens of VRS-317 in children with GHD. Cleland said there is a potential $3 billion market for growth hormones, anticipated to grow to $4 billion by 2018.
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“Growth hormone deficiency is a specialized field,” Cleland said, noting that the disease is chronic and currently must be treated with daily injections. “Children who do take therapy, 2/3rds are non-compliant in injections.” Since VRS-317 requires fewer injections, Cleland anticipates patients will be more compliant and achieve better growth results.
Both pediatric and adult GHD are orphaned. VRS-317 is a fusion protein consisting of rhGH and a proprietary half-life extension technology known as XTEN, which is in-licensed from Amunix Operating, Inc. Amunix has granted Versartis a worldwide exclusive license for a 1% licensing fee under its patents and know-how related to the XTEN technology to develop and commercialize VRS-317 as well as another undisclosed XTEN-based product. There is patent protection until at least 2030.
Cleland said Versartis Inc.’s market is split across EU, U.S. and Japan. “We are pursuing development in all three of those territories,” he said, with the pediatric focus on U.S. and Europe.
October should see news on the Phase III study, Cleland said.
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