AGM Trading Update
London, UK, 20 May 2009 – Lombard Medical Technologies PLC (AIM: LMT), the specialist medical device company, holds its Annual General Meeting today. Chairman of the Company, Simon Neathercoat will provide the following update on developments since Lombard announced its preliminary results on 1 April 2009:
“Since January’s £5.9 million equity raising (net of expenses), we have successfully implemented our strategic objectives of restructuring the cost base, focusing the business entirely around our lead product Aorfix™ and significantly reducing the annual cash burn to less than £6 million.
“As part of this strategy, we suspended the EndoRefix™ US trial and by mid-March we had completed the cost base reduction programme, reducing headcount by almost 50% from its peak to 56 people.
“The European Arbiter II Trial for Aorfix™ was successfully completed in September 2008. Since then we have completed our submission to the European regulator seeking approval for the higher angle extension in Europe, and we now await the result of the regulator’s deliberations which are expected within the next 3 months. EU approval will be a significant step towards full commercialisation of Aorfix™.
“The total number of patients treated with Aorfix™ now exceeds 850 (up from 714 at 31 December 2008). Interest in Aorfix™ has continued to grow and the device achieved strong year-on-year growth in Q1 2009. Commercial sales outside the United States continued strongly with increased penetration in Spain and entry into the Russian market.
“Uncertainty surrounding Lombard’s financial resources over the winter slowed the rate of recruitment into the key US trials for Aorfix™. However, since completion of the equity raising, I am pleased to be able to report that momentum has been regained and our monthly recruitment rates are returning to previous levels.
“After a period of intense activity, the strategy we announced in January remains unchanged. I remain as confident as ever that in Aorfix™ we have an innovative and important product which, when it has received its regulatory approvals, will meet a significant and as yet unmet market need.”
Enquiries:
Lombard Medical Technologies PLC Tel: 01235 750 800
Simon Neathercoat, Non-executive Chairman
Brian Howlett, Chief Executive Officer
Tim Hall, Finance Director
Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113
Jonathan Birt / Susan Quigley
Nomura Code Tel: 020 7776 1200
Juliet Thompson / Richard Potts
Notes to editors
About Lombard Medical
Lombard Medical Technologies PLC is a medical devices group developing stent grafts and other medical products for use in the treatment of vascular disease. The Company’s lead product, Aorfix™, is an endovascular stent graft for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), a balloon-like enlargement of the aorta which, if untreated, may rupture and cause death. Approximately 4.5 million people are living with AAA in the developed world and each year 600,000 new cases are diagnosed. The market for endovascular stent grafts for the treatment of AAA is currently worth over $800 million and is expected to grow to around $1.6 billion by 2015. Aorfix™ is currently being commercialised in the EU, with a pivotal clinical trial ongoing in the USA.
The Company’s Polymer Coatings Division has developed a novel hydrophilic surface treatment to reduce friction on catheters called GlideMax™, which is available for licensing, and is using its polymer coating technology in a number of research collaborations developing novel products for the $5 billion drug-eluting stent market.
The Company is headquartered in Oxfordshire, with operations in Yorkshire, Ayrshire and Boston, USA.
Further background on the Company can be found at www.lombardmedical.com