For its first quarter ended March 31, 2020, the Maryland-based company, reported revenue of $1.9 million, compared to $0.4 million a year earlier

Inc (), a global biotech company focused on accelerating and transforming the delivery of cell and gene therapies, posted first-quarter results on Monday that saw its revenue soar 348% year-over-year driven by its Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Biotech platform.

For its first quarter ended March 31, 2020, the Germantown, Maryland-based company, reported revenue of $1.9 million, compared to $0.4 million in the first quarter of 2019.

Orgenesis achieved net income of $75.6 million, or $4.23 per share, reflecting the sale of subsidiary Masthercell Global Inc, a contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO).

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On February 11, Orgenesis completed the successful sale of its CDMO business to Somerset, New Jersey-based Catalent Pharma Solutions, for around $127 million.

As a result, Orgenesis reported cash and equivalents of $107.1 million as of March 31, 2020.

In a statement accompanying the numbers, Orgenesis CEO Vered Caplan said: Step by step, our CGT Biotech Platform is gaining traction within the market, as illustrated by the year-over-year growth.

In the first quarter of 2020, revenue increased to $1.9 million, or nearly an $8 million revenue run rate compared to $3.1 million for all of 2019. We believe our CGT Biotech Platform is poised for growth this year through industry partnerships that are currently underway with leading research institutes and hospitals around the world, she added.

The companys CGT Biotech platform consists of three core elements:point-of care Therapeutics, point-of care Technologies, and point-of care Network.

Caplan also noted that earlier this year, the company struck collaboration agreements with two leading healthcare research institutes in the US.

We plan to utilize our point-of-care Network to support their growing development and processing needs in order to advance and accelerate cell and gene-based clinical therapeutic research, said Caplan.

Orgenesis is using the Masthercell sale proceeds to expand the companys point-of-care cell therapy business. The biotech is currently focused on therapies which span a wide range of treatments.

In addition to our POCare Network, we are building our pipeline of POCare Therapeutics and Technologies, with an ultimate goal of providing life-changing treatments to large numbers of patients at reduced costs within the point-of-care setting, said Caplan.

Specifically, we are focusing on immune-oncology, metabolic and autoimmune diseases, as well as anti-viral therapies.

Orgenesis also recently completed the acquisition of Tamir Biotechnology and its broad-spectrum antiviral platform, ranpirnase in a cash and stock deal for roughly $21 million. The company will use ranpirnase to target human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes genital warts.

Ranpirnase has demonstrated clinical efficacy against HPV and other hard to target viruses based on its unique mechanism of action of killing the virus and modulating the immune system, said Caplan.

Going forward, Orgenesis plans to move the program through a Phase 2b trial in the US.

Meanwhile, the Orgenesis boss said the company has received a nod from regulators to keep research alive at its labs during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

We are leveraging all our knowledge and expertise in the field of cell and gene therapy, including anti-viral technologies, in an attempt to find potential COVID-19 cures and therapies, said Caplan.

Importantly, we have a strong balance sheet and are strategically positioned to bring a variety of therapies to market in a cost-effective, high-quality and scalable manner.

At the start of April, Orgenesis teamed up with regenerative medicine and cell therapy firm RevaTis on a new joint venture to produce certain stem cells. The two firms plan to leverage Orgenesiss autologous CGT Biotech platform to advance clinical trials.

Under the deal, RevaTis and Orgenesis will use the formers patented technique to obtain muscle-derived mesenchymal stem cells (mdMSC) as a source of exosomes and various other cellular products.

Our plan is to combine RevaTis patented technique to obtain mdMSCs through a minimally invasive muscle micro-biopsy with our own automated/closed-systems, 3D printing, and bioreactor technologies, said Caplan.

The goal of this JV is to lower the costs and accelerate the timeline of bringing these innovative therapies through the clinic and into commercialization.

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at [emailprotected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive

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Orgenesis sees 1Q revenue rocket driven by its Cell and Gene Therapy Biotech platform - Proactive Investors USA & Canada