Capital Markets Day highlights
At the Vitrolife Capital Markets Day this evening, the company provided an update of the market trends and strategy together with a presentation of the new genomics partnership with Illumina. Furthermore, the history and future of IVF was presented.
The Capital Markets Day was held at the company’s premises in Göteborg with approximately 45 participants. The CEO Thomas Axelsson presented the financial and operational performance during the year and the trends that can be seen in the market including clinic consolidation and increased demand for technologies such as time-lapse, cryopreservation and preimplantation genetic testing. The CEO concluded that while the overall strategy to market high-quality products towards the IVF clinics around the world remain unchanged, the company will going forward focus even further on products and services that allow shorter time to pregnancy for the patients, for example decision support tools. The CEO presented the future growth drivers for each business unit and the ambition to strengthen the market position in the three largest markets in the world; China, Japan and the US.
The head of new business and strategic development, Fredrik Mattsson, presented the genomics partnership with Illumina. Beginning in early 2019, Vitrolife will be the exclusive distributor in EMEA and North and South America of Illumina’s kit for preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) and Illumina’s kit for preimplantation genetic testing for single gene disorders. Fredrik Mattsson explained that a higher percentage of embryos with an abnormal chromosomal copy can be seen for older patients and that PGT-A is more likely to offer benefits for this patient group. Furthermore, future trends in genomics, including non-invasive PGT, advantages from combining time-lapse and PGT and the use of Artificial Intelligence algorithms to interpret sequencing data got presented.
The Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) Mark Larman presented the history and possible future developments within IVF. The CSO highlighted the growth of the field in the last 40 years. When the first IVF-child was born in 1978, IVF was a controversial treatment, but this has changed over time and currently it is estimated that about 8 million children have been born in the world through IVF and assisted reproduction techniques. The CSO projected that the future development of IVF will focus on single embryo transfer and shortening the time to pregnancy, for example through improved consumables, objective embryo assessment, increased genetic testing, and increased cryopreservation.
The presentations that were shown on the Capital Markets Day are available on the website, https://www.vitrolife.com/en/investors/Presentations/.
Gothenburg, November 21, 2018
VITROLIFE AB (publ)
Thomas Axelsson, CEO
Queries should be addressed to:
Thomas Axelsson, CEO, tel 46 31 721 80 01
Mikael Engblom, CFO, tel 46 31 721 80 14
This information is information that Vitrolife AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 8.00 pm CET on November 21, 2018.
This is a translation of the Swedish version of the press release. When in doubt, the Swedish wording prevails.
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Vitrolife is an international medical device Group. Vitrolife develops, produces and markets medical devices for assisted reproduction.
Vitrolife has approximately 370 employees and the company's products are sold in about 110 markets. The company is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and there are also offices in Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and USA. The Vitrolife share is listed on NASDAQ Stockholm.
Vitrolife AB (publ), Box 9080, SE-400 92 Göteborg, Sweden. Corporate identity number 556354-3452. Tel: 46 31 721 80 00. Fax: 46 31 721 80 99. E-mail: info@vitrolife.com. Website: www.vitrolife.com/
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