Cellmid 2018 Annual Report 9
AUSTRALIA
We announced in April 2018 that we had entered into a five-
year agreement with Labo International S.r.l to undertake the
exclusive distribution of Fillerina®, a market leading Swiss
anti-aging skincare brand, in Australia and New Zealand.
Fillerina® is a world first, patented dermo-cosmetic filler
treatment, which has been scientifically proven to reduce
facial wrinkles, deliver measurable filling effect, increase facial
volumes and decrease the clinical signs of skin aging.
The Fillerina® distribution agreement is expected to generate
efficiencies through the increased utilisation of the Company’s
existing evolis® national sales and digital marketing team. We
expect that Fillerina® will add significantly to our profitability
in Australia.
The évolis® Professional range will also be progressively
introduced to targeted pharmacies from July 2018. The
evolis® WHITE Mask, which is designed to sit across the
pharmacy and Professional ranges, will also be rolled out from
July in pharmacies and salons. This will result in an increase in
the number of evolis® SKUs in Australia from four to sixteen.
The Fillerina® product range with 11 SKUs will be launched
in Australian pharmacies progressively from September 2018,
with 70% of the first order already allocated to participating
pharmacies. This takes the pharmacy range, including evolis®
and Fillerina® from four to 27 products from September 2018.
As a result, we expect a meaningful increase in revenues in
the coming year.
MIDKINE INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY PORTFOLIO IN
TRANSFORMATIONAL STAGE
Cellmid holds the most comprehensive intellectual property
portfolio around midkine (MK) globally, with several
potential clinical development programs and a number of
product development opportunities. We are targeting the
development of these assets as treatments for several life-
threatening and chronic diseases.
Cellmid has two wholly owned subsidiaries focused on MK;
Lyramid, a MK antibody company developing treatments for
cancer, fibrosis and chronic kidney diseases; and Kinera, a
company developing MK protein for the treatment of heart
failure, chronic heart conditions and other ischemic diseases.
The 2017 financial year saw the release of transformational
new publications on data generated in cancer and
inflammatory diseases.
MIDKINE SYMPOSIUM
Cellmid convened the 5th MK Symposium in May 2018 in
Munich, Germany. The Symposium was a global meeting of
key opinion leaders, clinicians and research scientists involved
in MK research. The event was a success and resulted in
exciting new research findings on MK and MK inhibitors
being revealed across 38 presentations by scientists from 13
countries.
Highlights of the Symposium included themed sessions
on the role of MK and its related protein pleiotrophin in
cancer, cardiovascular biology, tissue injury responses,
as well as neural development and CNS disorders. Many
speakers highlighted and expanded upon research already
published on MK in top ranking and prestigious journals
including Nature, Cell, Cell Reports, Science Signalling
and Science Reports, which contributed to a high-quality
scientific meeting.
Research and commercial collaborations arising from the
symposium are expected to accelerate the clinical develop-
ment path for Cellmid, and we will update shareholders of
any developments in this regard.
RESEARCH COLLABORATION WITH
WESTMEAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE DELIVERS
FIRST OPPORTUNITY FOR ORPHAN DRUG
APPLICATION
We have recently reported on positive efficacy results from
one of our lead anti-MK antibodies, CAB102, in the rare
kidney disease, FSGS. The study, performed in collaboration
with the Westmead Institute, found that the humanised
antibody reduced the area of kidney injury 3-fold compared
to vehicle treated control mice with FSGS (p<0.05), while
renal function was improved (p<0.05).
This confirmed previous findings, that blocking midkine
alleviates damage to the kidney and prevents ensuing
defects in renal function. Furthermore, it demonstrated that
a humanised antibody targeting midkine, CAB102, is equally
as effective as its murine precursor. This is a critical step in
progressing Cellmid’s antibody assets towards clinical trials
in kidney patients.