BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BVXV)

[midastouch017]

BiondVax Announces First Quarter 2017 Financial Results and Update


NESS ZIONA, Israel, May 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Nasdaq: BVXV; TASE: BVXV), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing M-001, a universal flu vaccine candidate, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 and provided a business update.

First Quarter 2017 Financial Summary

Results are in New Israel Shekels (NIS) and convenience translation to $US is provided using the exchange rate of 3.63 (NIS/$US) as at March 31, 2017.

First quarter operating expenses were NIS 2.97m ($817,000) compared with NIS 2.83m for the first quarter of 2016;
First quarter R&D expenses amounted to NIS 1.87m ($516,000) compared with NIS 2.06m for the first quarter of 2016;
As of March 31, 2017, BiondVax had cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and marketable securities of NIS 35 million ($9.6 million) as compared to NIS 27 million as of December 31, 2016. The increase is attributable to a private placement of NIS 10.9 million.

Recent Corporate Update

The European UNISEC consortium sponsored Phase 2b processed the final participant in September. Preliminary safety results were reported in November.[1] Immunogenicity results and statistical analysis are currently being processed by other UNISEC consortium entities.

In January, Angels High Tech Investments Ltd. invested NIS 10.9 million, approximately $2.8 million, in exchange for 33.8 million ordinary BiondVax shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (equivalent to 844,000 NASDAQ listed ADS) at the December 29, 2016 Tel Aviv closing market price. Following the transaction, Angels Investments held 19.99% of all issued and outstanding share capital of the Company.[2]

In January, the peer-reviewed journal Vaccine published an article titled, "Back to the future: Immunization with M-001 prior to trivalent influenza vaccine in 2011/12 enhanced protective immune responses against 2014/15 epidemic strain." The article reports that blood plasma samples from people who received M-001 in 2011 (as part of BiondVax's BVX-005 clinical trial in the elderly) showed a five-fold significant increase of protective antibodies against a new epidemic 2014/15 flu strain (A/Swiss) – a strain which did not exist when M-001 was administered to the BVX-005 participants.[3]

An article by BiondVax-affiliated authors titled, "Strategy for approving a universal flu vaccine" was published in March in the peer-reviewed journal Future Virology.[4]

Also in March, the Company received approval for a grant representing 20% of a NIS 20 million budget from Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry to build a facility for commercial scale production of its universal flu vaccine candidate.[5]

In April, the company presented at the Influenza Vaccines for the World (IVW2017) conference in Switzerland.


[1] http://www.biondvax.com/2016/11/biondvax-phase-2b-trial-preliminary-safety-results-the-universal-flu-vaccine-candidate-is-safe-and-well-tolerated/

[2] http://www.biondvax.com/2017/01/biondvax-receives-us-2-8-million-investment-from-angels-high-tech-investments-ltd/

[3] http://www.biondvax.com/2017/01/back-to-the-future-study-published-in-vaccine-journal-indicates-biondvaxs-universal-flu-vaccine-candidate-may-cover-strains-which-dont-yet-exist/

[4] http://www.biondvax.com/2017/03/biondvax-publishes-regulatory-approval-strategy-for-novel-universal-flu-vaccines-in-future-virology-journal/

[5] http://www.biondvax.com/2017/03/biondvax-approved-for-grant-from-israels-ministry-of-economy-and-industry-to-build-facility-for-commercial-scale-production-of-its-universal-flu-vaccine/

About BiondVax

BiondVax is a biopharmaceutical company developing a universal flu vaccine. The vaccine is designed to provide multi-season protection against most seasonal and pandemic human influenza virus strains. BiondVax's proprietary technology utilizes a unique combination of conserved and common peptides from influenza virus proteins, activating both arms of the immune system for a cross-protecting and long-lasting effect. BiondVax is traded on NASDAQ: BVXV and TASE: BVXV. For more information, please visit www.biondvax.com.