Open Orphan (ORPH ) has announced the appointment of Martin Gouldstone as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company with effect from 8 June 2022.
Mr Goldstone, who brings with him 30 years of corporate development experience in the CRO, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, will Chair the Audit & Risk Committee and will be a member of the Nominations Committee and the Remuneration Committee, respectively.
Mr Goldstone, who has held a number of senior roles at healthcare AI businesses, has expertise in executing multi-billion dollar deals across Europe and the US, architecting end-to-end portfolio out-sourcing deals, and negotiating multi-year research partnerships.
He is currently Global SVP of Business Development at Owkin, a French-American start-up using artificial intelligence to discover and develop better treatments for unmet medical needs.
Previously, Mr Goldstone held the roles of Chief Business Officer at both BenevolentAI and Sensyne Health and was a Partner at Results Healthcare, an international M&A advisory firm.
Prior to this, Mr Goldstone was Head of Life Sciences for BDO UK LLP, Senior Director responsible for M&A and joint venture opportunities in Europe for Quintiles (now IQVIA), and Business Development and Licensing Lead at Confirmant, Pharmacopeia Inc, Sareum Ltd.
Yamin 'Mo' Khan, CEO, commented: "I am pleased to welcome Martin to the Board of Open Orphan. Martin has extensive corporate development experience in the CRO, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors and held a number of senior roles in healthcare AI businesses. I look forward to working closely with Martin as we drive further growth across the business."
Speaking of his appointment, Martin Gouldstone, Non-Executive Director, stated: "I am delighted to join the Board of Open Orphan at what is an exciting time for the Company and the infectious disease market as it continues to grow significantly post pandemic.”
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Today’s news follows the publication of Open Orphan’s results for the year to 31 December 2021 on Tuesday which saw the company report record revenue and EBITDA profitability accompanied by what it called “significant operational progress” over the 12 month period.
Revenue came to £39m, up from £22.2m in FY20 and representing 76% growth, while the business saw a £9m improvement in profitability, generating EBITDA of £2.9m compared to a loss of £6.1m in the year to 31 December 2020 and higher than finnCap's forecast of £2.5m.
Analysts at finnCap said these FY21 results provides them “with the confidence that the company should deliver on FY 2022 forecasts,” adding that it shows that hVIVO “is a trusted partner for global players seeking to leverage the increased adoption of challenge models.”
While year-end cash of £15.7m (net debt £15.4m) was consequently better than expected, management is focusing on driving utilisation rates at its facilities, helped by its expanded recruitment programme, which enables it to provide volunteers for Phase 2 and 3 field trials.
In particular, Open Orphan’s hVIVO subsidiary, which has already seen a steady increase in flu studies over the past 18 months, expects to see an increase of several challenge studies.
Notably, its most recent contract saw hVIVO deliver one of its key objectives which is to utilise all of its services to a single client. In fact, this is the first time hVIVO has been engaged to conduct a study of this kind with all three parts of the contract being covered by its services - the manufacturing part, the characterisation study and the challenge study, respectively.
finnCap has reiterated its 44p target price, based on a sum of the parts valuation. "Of this, the core business is valued at 33p (4.4x 2022 EV/Sales), which reflects the strong revenue growth (+33%) and arguably the group’s unique expertise and strategic positioning" it said.
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