Hi, I'm Andreas Andersson, the CEO of Intervacc. Intervacc's Annual General Shareholders Meeting 2021 will be conducted by postal voting without physical presence. This is a decision that has been made by the board due to the continued spread of the coronavirus and the authorities' regulations and advice to reduce the spread of the infection. I recommend that you use a digital postal voting form from poströsta.se. Instructions are available on Intervacc's webpage. If you have any problems, just contact us and we will assist you. The postal voting form, which is also considered as a notification to the meeting, must be received by Intervacc no later than Tuesday, June 8th, 2021. Shareholders who do not wish to vote digitally can contact us at Intervacc to receive a postal voting form that can be filled in by hand and sent via email to shareholders@intervacc.se or by letter to Intervacc AB. Here too, the form must have been received by Intervacc no later than Tuesday, June 8th, 2021. I would like to take the opportunity to look back on the last 12 months since the last AGM, and I would like to start with the regulatory process. We submitted the application for market authorization holder in Europe in February 2020, and during the summer, we received the so-called day -120 questions. We answered these in the beginning of the year, here in January 2021. The next step in that process was to receive the so-called 180-day question. We have now also answered these questions, both in written form and orally. We are on track for what we believe is a positive opinion here in the second half of June 2021. Fantastic progress and really exciting times. In preparation for the launch here in the second half of 2021, the launch of Strangvac, our vaccine against the equine disease strangles, we are preparing the company in many areas, such as production, quality, and of course, sales and marketing. In doing that, we have continued to strengthen the organization. Earlier this year, Emma Hartman joined us in the role as a product manager. Emma is a veterinarian, educated at the University of Copenhagen, and she most recently comes from MSD, where she had the role as a Nordic product manager for equine and cattle. Emma brings great experience from one of the largest animal health companies in the world. She has also worked as a practicing veterinarian. A little bit later than this year, Astrid Larberg joined us in the role as a quality assurance manager. Astrid is also a veterinarian educated at SLU here in Sweden, and she comes most recently from AstraZeneca, where she has worked with quality assurance. Astrid has also worked as a practicing veterinarian at Distriktsveterinärerna and Evidensia. Shortly after last year's AGM, Dr. Andrew Waller joined Intervacc as Chief Scientific Officer. Andrew is a bacteriological expert within the field of streptococcal infections in animals, and especially within equine strangles, where he is a cited international expert. We have known Andrew for many years, and he led the clinical trials at Strangvac from his former employee, Animal Health Trust. Andrew has a great network within veterinary vaccine development, and he's a great asset and strength to Intervacc, both for the launch of Strangvac and in the development of new veterinary vaccines. In conclusion, those are three great recruitments. In June last year, we carried out the directed share issue of approximately 6.5 million shares, raising about SEK 147 million, or close to EUR 15 million. At the end of this first quarter this year, we had about SEK 149 million, again, around EUR 15 million in the bank. We have a very strong financial position going forward. Here in April, we were delighted to come to an agreement with Dechra Pharmaceuticals for them to become our exclusive distributor of Strangvac in Europe, with the exceptions of the countries where we are going to sell ourselves, which is primarily the Nordics. Now Dechra is a great partner. They are one of the top 10 animal health companies in the world, and they are particularly strong within equine. Around 7% of Dechra's sales come from the equine segment, which is proportionally a lot, more than twice from most of the comparable companies on that top 10 animal health list. Traditionally, the animal health segment has been divided into companion animals and livestock or farm animals. Horses, they were traditionally in the farm animal segment, then they've moved over in most companies to the companion animal segment. Within Dechra's kept equine or horses as a separate segment, and we like that focus. We think that is good for the development of the sales of Strangvac. Dechra is particularly strong in pain management, which gives them great access to equine veterinarians. They are now also focusing on vaccines. They are bringing an equine herpesvirus vaccine to the market also this year alongside the launch of Strangvac. We think this is going to be really good for us and Dechra to grow together with Dechra within the equine segment and within veterinary equine vaccines. Great partner. From the 3rd of May to the 9th of May, Strangles Awareness Week took place, a campaign to raise awareness about equine strangles. This campaign started last year in the U.K., where it's led by Redwings, and this year it also came to Sweden under the name Stoppa Kvarkan. Here in Sweden, the campaign is led by SVA, the National Veterinary Institute. The campaign has received great support from many important equestrian organizations and companies, and we also support this campaign fully. Our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Andrew Waller, participated by making an informative film that was part of the campaign. The Swedish television channel TV4 interviewed one of our co-founders, Professor Jan-Ingmar Flock, about the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also known as MRSA. In the interview, Professor Flock talked about our vaccine project against Staphylococcus aureus infections in dairy cows, where this bacteria is the main cause of mastitis. The interview was released on the 24th of February, and it highlighted the importance of vaccine development and how vaccines can play an important role against Staphylococcus aureus and preventing and managing MRSA infections. Vaccine development has made great advances during this year, driven by the need to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Intervacc technology, using fusions of recombinant protein, is in the forefront of vaccine design against complex pathogens. The need for vaccines against bacterial diseases is growing, and we intend to use our expertise to develop more veterinary vaccines. We are making progress, most recently in our vaccine development projects against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus suis. Strangvac is in the forefront of a new generation of veterinary vaccines. With that, I'd like to thank all employees, partners, and shareholders for this successful year, and I look forward to this very exciting year ahead. Thank you for listening.
Loading workspace