Lund, Sweden 08.30 CET, 23 January 2018 – BONESUPPORT (Nasdaq Stockholm: BONEX), an emerging leader in innovative injectable bio-ceramic bone substitute products to treat bone voids caused by trauma, infection, disease or related surgery based on its unique CERAMENT® platform, announces that the Board of Directors has appointed Emil Billbäck as the new CEO of BONESUPPORT HOLDING AB. Mr. Billbäck has over 20 years management experience from the life science industry and the Board of Directors is of the opinion that he has the ideal profile to implement the Company’s strategy and to deliver shareholder value. He will join BONESUPPPORT on 1st March 2018 when he will replace Richard Davies who has been the Company’s CEO since January 2016.
Mr. Billbäck, who lives in Malmö and is a Swedish citizen, will join from Essity where he was Senior Advisor following its acquisition of BSN Medical from the Swedish private equity group EQT in 2017. Prior to this, he was a member of the Group Executive Board/Management Committee at BSN Medical, where he held the position of Executive Vice President EMEA and Head of Global Commercial Operations. Mr. Billbäck spent over 13 years in senior management roles at BSN Medical, including Interim President of North America and Group Director Commercial Operations and R&D. BSN Medical develops, manufactures, markets and sells products within wound care, compression therapy and orthopedics.
Håkan Björklund, Chairman of BONESUPPORT, commenting on today’s announcement said: “I would like to thank Richard Davies for the significant contributions he has made to the company which have included an impressive growth of the business as well putting the company in a strong financial position following its IPO on Nasdaq Stockholm in June 2017. As the company is becoming much bigger and more complex, it will benefit from a full time leadership presence at the headquarters in Lund. I am very pleased that we have attracted someone of Emil’s caliber to become the CEO of BONESUPPORT. He has extensive experience in areas of the healthcare market which are central to BONESUPPORT’s future success and will provide excellent leadership under which BONESUPPORT can continue to realize its significant potential.”
Emil Billbäck, commenting on his appointment said: “I am looking forward to becoming the CEO of BONESUPPORT. It is clear that the Company has an exciting future based on the significant growth potential of its current commercial products for the management of bone voids. These products, which are based on the Company’s highly differentiated CERAMENT platform, deliver important clinical and economic benefits to surgeons, patients and payers based on their ability to remodel to host bone and to elute antibiotics to protect the healing process by preventing infection. I also believe that BONESUPPORT’s pipeline, which is focused on novel products designed to enhance bone growth, will contribute to the Company’s longer term success.”
Richard Davies commented: “I am very proud of what we have built over the last two years and I am confident that success will endure going forward. I would like to thank my colleagues for their contributions and fellowship and I wish Emil the best of success for the future.”
About BONESUPPORT™
BONESUPPORT is an innovative and rapidly growing commercial stage orthobiologics company, based in Lund, Sweden. The Company develops and commercializes innovative injectable bio-ceramic bone graft substitutes that remodel to the patient’s own bone and have the capability of eluting drugs directly into the bone void.
BONESUPPORT’s marketed bio-ceramic bone graft substitutes CERAMENT® BONE VOID FILLER (BVF), CERAMENT® G* and CERAMENT® V* are all based on the Company’s novel and proprietary CERAMENT technology platform.
The Company’s products are targeting a large addressable market opportunity across trauma, chronic osteomyelitis (bone infection), revision arthroplasty (replacement of a joint prosthesis) and infected diabetic foot.
BONESUPPORT’s total sales increased from SEK 41 million in 2014 to SEK 105 million in 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate of 60 percent. The Company’s financial target is to achieve revenue exceeding SEK 500 million in the financial year 2020, with a gross margin exceeding 85 percent and a positive operating profit.
The Company’s research and development is focused on the continuing development and refinement of its CERAMENT technology to extend its use into additional indications by the elution of other drugs and therapeutic agents. The Company currently has a pipeline of pre-clinical product candidates that have been designed to promote bone growth.
BONESUPPORT is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and trades under the ticker “BONEX” (ISIN code: SE0009858152). Further information is available at bonesupport.com
*CERAMENT G: Not available in the United States, for investigational use only. CERAMENT V: Not available in the United States
BONESUPPORT™ and CERAMENT® are registered trademarks.
For more information contact:
Håkan Björklund, Chairman of the Board of Directors
+45 (0) 40 88 85 00
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
David Dible
+44 (0)20 7282 2949
This information is such information as BONESUPPORT HOLDING AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 08:30 CET on 23 January 2018.