co.don AG / co.don AG: positive business performance in 2012 . Processed and transmitted by Thomson Reuters ONE. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
co.don AG, one of the leading companies in the production of autologous cartilage cell transplants for the treatment of articular and vertebral damage, can look back on a positive financial year 2012. The strategy of securing the Germany market - also as a reference for the planned international activities - is succeeding. According to preliminary figures, revenue here rose by about 21% (unaudited). Including the sales performance in foreign markets, total revenue growth of around 16% to €2.7m was achieved in 2012 (unaudited).
Thanks to the acquisition of two new investors, co.don AG received funding of some €3.9m. The shareholders' meeting adopted a proposal from the Executive Board and Supervisory Board to create new approved capital of €3,554,292 and authorised the Executive Board to increase existing share capital to €10,662,876 when the new approved capital is entered in the commercial register. The capital increase was carried out in August 2012. The shareholders' meeting also passed a resolution to expand the Supervisory Board from three to six members.
The additional capital will in particular cover the substantial expenses for clinical trials and therefore of applying for a central marketing authorisation for co.don AG's main product from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In June 2012 the recruitment phase was successfully completed for the Phase II clinical trial. In December 2012 the full set of approval documents was filed with the European Medicines Agency in London. The product can still be sold in Germany, the main sales market for co.don AG, until the marketing authorisation is granted, because the company applied for the appropriate approval from the national German federal authority before the deadline. At the same time co.don AG is intensifying its marketing and sales activities in non-EU countries.
In March 2012 co.don AG was the main sponsor of the First Berlin Cartilage Symposium. Some 120 physicians from Germany and abroad met to discuss the latest developments, current methods and their experiences of regenerative articular surgery. As the symposium was such a success, a second event will take place on 12 April 2013.
In June 2012 the American patent office granted co.don AG a patent to produce autologous intervertebral disc cartilage cell transplants. The company has therefore been able to protect its production process in one of the world's largest sales markets for healthcare.
The orthopaedic department of the Agaplesion Elisabethenstift hospital in Darmstadt became the first clinic in Germany to be recognised as an official teaching centre by the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS). Since 2006 the consultant Dr. Thomas Schreyer has applied the method developed by co.don AG to treat cartilage damage in the knee joint.
"Joint preservation before joint replacement - over 5,000 knee and spinal cartilage patients have already been treated. According to the experts who use the treatment, the success rate is 85%", explains Dr. Baltrusch, CEO of co.don AG. Compared with other therapy options the treatment is often much more gentle and in Germany the costs are reimbursed by both statutory and private health insurance. Every year more than 175,000 knee replacement operations are carried out in Germany. "With our procedure", says co.don CEO, "cartilage damage can be repaired gently and replacement surgery often averted."
About co.don® AG:
The company is based in Teltow, Brandenburg, and was founded in 1993. Since 2001 the biopharmaceutical specialist has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A1K0227). co.don AG® uses tissue engineering - the cultivation and growth of autologous tissue cells - to develop innovative products and therapeutic concepts for the orthopaedic and neurosurgical markets. The cell-based biological drugs (autologous cell transplants for articular cartilage and intervertebral disks) are produced without the use of antibiotics, growth factors and genetic engineering. The Executive Board of co.don® AG is made up of Dr Andreas Baltrusch (CEO) and Ms Vilma Methner (COO, CSO).
Further information is available from: www.codon.de (http://www.codon.de/)
Press contact
| co.don AG | |
| Matthias Meißner | |
| Warthestraße 21 | |
| Tel: | 0049 3328 43 46 37 |
| Fax: | 0049 3328 43 46 43 |
| Email: | pr@codon.de (mailto:pr@codon.de) |
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Source: co.don AG via Thomson Reuters ONE
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co.don AG
Warthestr. 21 Teltow Germany
WKN: A1K022;ISIN: DE000A1K0227;
Listed: Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart,
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