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As Hal Barron steals the show, there’s no off position on the John Maraganore switch; Danny Bar-Zohar makes another leap forward at Merck KGaA

John Maraganore
→ The needle on the Maraganore Meter is moving again, as John Maraganore keeps collecting more post-Alnylam roles. First, he and BeiGene co-founder Peter Ho will be strategic advisors for Hillhouse-backed China startup Overland Pharmaceuti

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John Maraganore

→ The needle on the Maraganore Meter is moving again, as John Maraganore keeps collecting more post-Alnylam roles. First, he and BeiGene co-founder Peter Ho will be strategic advisors for Hillhouse-backed China startup Overland Pharmaceuticals, founded by Hua Mu and Ed Zhang. (By the way, Zhang has been named permanent CEO of Overland this week after the one-time COO and CBO served as interim chief since May.) Next, Maraganore has been elected to the board of directors at protein degradation biotech Kymera Therapeutics — a board chaired by Bruce Booth that includes Don Nicholson and outgoing Blueprint Medicines CEO Jeff Albers.

Maraganore began the year with a truckload of appointments at RTW, Atlas Venture, Hemab, SQZ Biotechnologies and the Stanley Crooke non-profit n-Lorem Foundation. And not long after he announced his departure from Alnylam, he also took a board seat at Beam Therapeutics.

Hal Barron

→ In case you’ve been in an underground bunker deprived of biopharma news, you know that Hal Barron has decided to part ways with GlaxoSmithKline to helm Rick Klausner’s preclinical anti-aging play Altos Labs — and the list of names associated with the startup is chock full of industry bigwigs. Tony Wood, who joined the UK pharma giant in 2017 from Pfizer, is at the ready in August to see things through with the “New GSK” as R&D chief. When our John Carroll asked Barron what Altos would look like, he answered, “I don’t know. I think that’s kind of the exciting thing about biotech.” For more coverage of Barron’s new CEO gig, you can read the rest of his interview and get the inside scoop from Klausner himself.

Danny Bar-Zohar

→ Danny Bar-Zohar has been elevated to global head of R&D at Merck KGaA, while the German multinational — which bought out Exelead in a $780 million deal to ring in 2022 — has also promoted Joern-Peter Halle to chief strategy officer. Bar-Zohar was named global head of development in the fall of 2020, not long before R&D chief Luciano Rossetti joined Flagship’s Pioneering Medicines as CMO. Before Merck KGaA, Bar-Zohar spent nearly seven years in a number of roles at Novartis, namely global head, clinical development & analytics. Halle, who started in the Merck KGaA universe in 2005, had been global head of research since June 2020.

David Weinstock

→ As for the other Merck, Frank Clyburn will leave as president of the human health business on Feb. 1 to become president and CEO of International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), and the pharma giant has installed David Weinstock as VP, discovery oncology for Merck Research Laboratories. Weinstock just wrapped up a 14-year stint at Dana-Farber, where he was the Lavine Family Chair for Preventative Cancer Therapies. Merck just released data for its blockbuster Keytruda in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, an indication that has generated highs and lows, as our Nicole DeFeudis pointed out this week.

Dominique Costantini

→ We have a change at the top at OSE Immunotherapeutics, where Dominique Costantini takes over as interim CEO for Alexis Peyroles, who “is stepping down for health reasons,” according to the release. Costantini was chief executive at the French biotech from 2012-18 and currently chairs the board of directors. Just a month ago, OSE made a bevy of leadership moves, naming Laurence de Schoulepnikoff as CBO and Silvia Comis as head of clinical development, among others.

→ RNA pioneer Ionis has tapped Joseph Baroldi as CBO and Eric Bastings as VP, development strategy. Baroldi, who was VP of business development during his previous decade-long stint at Ionis, returns on Jan. 31 after two years as COO of Art Levin’s Avidity Biosciences. Bastings held a string of neuro posts over a 21-year career at the FDA, leaving the agency as deputy director of the Office of Neuroscience. Ionis recently struck a deal with its Spinraza partner, as Biogen snapped up the antisense oligonucleotide BIIB115 for $60 million upfront.

Sandra Horning

→ If you’re setting up a new scientific advisory board, you better make it count, and Colorado-based MRD assay developer Foresight Diagnostics appears to be doing just that by appointing Sandra Horning. Foresight will rely on Horning’s oncology expertise as the company partners with the National Cancer Institute on the lymphoma drug acalabrutinib, which is in a Phase II trial. Horning, who co-founded EQRx and retired from Genentech/Roche in 2019, is a board member at Gilead, Moderna and Olema Oncology.

→ Next-gen CAR-T player ImmPACT Bio has been busy. The company that merged with UCLA spinoff Kalthera last year has now snagged $111 million in a Series B financing round, posted a glimpse at some positive, early Phase I data, and also had a C-suite shakeup. Leading the company at its helm is incoming CEO Sumant Ramachandra, who previously served as chief science, technology, and medical officer at Baxter International. Meanwhile, former CEO Rick Kendall is moving over to the CSO spot. Finally, ImmPACT has plucked up Sheila Gujrathi — OrbiMed venture advisor and former Gossamer Bio CEO  — as the new board chair.

→ Copenhagen’s Bavarian Nordic, in the thick of an RSV vaccine race with the likes of GSK, J&J and Pfizer, will get help from the competition by making Big Pharma vet Russell Thirsk COO beginning April 1. He will succeed Henrik Birk, who “has decided to seek new challenges outside Bavarian Nordic,” the statement reads. Thirsk hails from GSK, where he was head of operations at GSK Vaccines in Belgium the last 5½ years, and he held a number of positions at Novartis Vaccines, moving up to head of global technical operations before GSK acquired the business.

Antonio Gualberto

→ Antonio Gualberto led off a February 2020 Peer Review when he took the CMO job at Eisai sub H3 Biomedicine, but he’s started to write a new chapter as president of R&D and CMO of Exo Therapeutics, an exosite-centered play from David Liu’s lab. Gualberto, a Pfizer R&D vet, co-founded Kura Oncology and was medical chief there before bolting for H3, and he’s also been Global Clinical Development Center for Oncology head (US) for EMD Serono. Exo, which launched in December 2020, pulled in some extra coin with a $78 million Series B raise in October 2021.

Andrew Sandford

→ David Hallal’s crew at ElevateBio has locked in Andrew Sandford as president of the ElevateBio BaseCamp, the gene and cell therapy biotech’s cGMP facility in Waltham, MA. Sandford, the co-founder and ex-CEO of Vrex Therapeutics, was global VP of business development, biologics for Catalent and also had BD gigs at Lonza and Selexis. Bolstering the “basecamp” was one of the big goals attached to ElevateBio’s monster Series C last March that totaled $525 million.

Jing Marantz

→ Moving on from Acceleron after the Merck deal, Jing Marantz has signed on to Pittsburgh gene therapy player Krystal Biotech as CBO. Marantz, the ex-head of medical affairs at Acceleron and Alnylam, has packed her career with such posts as global medical lead, Tecfidera at Biogen and VP, global medical affairs, head of US medical affairs, and interim head of Latin America medical affairs for Alexion. The Takeda vet was just named to the board of directors at Arcturus Therapeutics and has exited the board at Krystal, making room for ex-Translate Bio president and former Sanofi exec Rand Sutherland.

Syed Rizvi

→ Caribou Biosciences, the CRISPR startup working on off-the-shelf CAR-Ts from the creative world of Jennifer Doudna, has turned to Syed Rizvi to take on the role of CMO. Rizvi just held the same title at Chimeric Therapeutics, and at Legend, he was in charge of developing the Janssen-partnered autologous BCMA CAR-T cilta-cel — which now has a Feb. 28 PDUFA date after the original date of Nov. 29 was postponed.

Richard John Daly

→ Richard John Daly (not to be confused with two-time major golf champion John Daly) has been named president of Shanghai-based CARsgen’s US subsidiary, CARsgen Therapeutics Corporation. Daly leaves his COO post behind at BeyondSpring — which has taken some punches with a CRL for the non-small cell lung cancer drug plinabulin and a subsequent 35% reduction in its US workforce — and he’s also been president of AstraZeneca’s US diabetes subsidiary. CARsgen announced its plans to gain a foothold in the US last May with the construction of two sites in North Carolina, and the Chinese CAR-T player bagged a $186 million raise in November 2020.

Hongming Chen

→ Throwing its hat into the AI ring with an $86 million Series A round last month, METiS Therapeutics has selected Hongming Chen for the dual roles of president and head of R&D. Chen took on research posts at Merck and AstraZeneca early in her career, and she was with Kala Pharmaceuticals from its inception in 2010, first as VP of research and most recently as CSO.

Alyssa Levin

→ ViaCyte, which recently posted “disappointing” data that leaves the future of its attempted diabetes cure uncertain, has signed on Alyssa Levin as CFO and Lisa Porter to its board of directors. Levin joins with experience from her times as CFO and SVP of operations at Tentarix Biotherapeutics and CFO at Bird Rock Bio. Meanwhile, Porter currently serves as CMO of Nano Precision Medical and was formerly CMO at Eiger Biopharmaceuticals and Dance Biopharma. Additionally, Porter has held roles at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, GSK and Zeneca Pharmaceuticals.

Lisa Tesvich-Bonora

→ Jonathan Lim’s cancer biotech Erasca has enlisted Lisa Tesvich-Bonora as chief people officer and promoted Ignyta alum Robert Shoemaker to SVP of research. This is Tesvich-Bonora’s maiden voyage as a biotech exec after nearly 20 years as founder and president of Inspire True Leadership, although she’s worked in the past with leaders in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and CROs. Shoemaker is a founding member of the Erasca family, starting the company with Lim and Gary Yeung in 2018 and serving as VP of biology.

Anupama Hoey

→ San Francisco-based AI biotech Fountain Therapeutics has added Anupama Hoey as CBO. Prior to joining Fountain, Hoey had the same title at Sensei Biotherapeutics — steering the company to its nine-figure IPO in early 2021 — and Second Genome. She’s also held positions at Invenra, Arcus Biosciences and Sutro Biopharma.

→ With former CRISPR Therapeutics exec Philippe Drouet now leading the way as CEO, San Diego protein degradation shop BioTheryX has welcomed Sahm Nasseri as CBO. Nasseri had been CEO of PYC Therapeutics since late 2020, and in the previous six years at Merck, he was interim VP and global product leader for HPV vaccines as well as executive director, global strategy, oncology. Before Drouet’s arrival, BioTheryX netted a $92 million Series E round in May 2021.

Charlotte Deane

→ UK deep learning company Exscientia, which just inked a $100 million upfront AI megadeal with Sanofi, has welcomed aboard Charlotte Deane as the company’s first-ever chief scientist of biologics AI. Deane currently serves as a professor of structural bioinformatics at the University of Oxford and also leads the university’s Protein Informatics group. Deane has also served as deputy executive chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and was a member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).

→ Starting on Feb. 1, Hendrik Nogai will take over as CMO at Polish cancer player Ryvu Therapeutics. Over the last seven years with Bayer, Nogai has served as clinical pharmacology leader, senior clinical development leader, immune-oncology and VP, global development leader in the German pharma giant’s NTRK program.

Maria Beconi

→ Two new execs have made the team at ZielBio out of the University of Virginia: First, chief science officer Maria Beconi comes from Disc Medicine, where she was SVP, translational R&D, and she also took a two-year spin at Goldfinch Bio as VP, nonclinical and pharmacology. At Merck Research Laboratories, Ramesh Ramanathan was executive medical director of global medical and scientific affairs, and now he pivots to ZielBio as VP for clinical development. ZielBio’s lead candidate ZB131 takes aim at plectin that can spur the growth of cancer cells.

Matt Wiley

→ Matt Wiley has signed on as chief commercial officer of AI biotech BioXcel, which is currently in a pivotal Phase III for its most advanced program BXCL501 to treat agitation for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s. Wiley had been CCO for Vyne Therapeutics since 2018, and at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, he was VP of marketing and business unit lead for a sleep medicine unit known for Sunosi and Xyrem.

→ Israeli biotech VBL Therapeutics has recruited Matthew Trudeau as chief commercial officer. Before his departure last summer, Trudeau held a pocketful of roles in a five-year span at bluebird bio, including head of the LentiGlobin maker’s US business team. Before bluebird, he was head of the Asia-Pacific region and then director of international commercial operations for Biogen. VBL ran into some CMC troubles in June 2021 with its ovarian cancer drug VBL-111, used in combination with paclitaxel in the Phase III OVAL trial versus placebo.

Corinne Foo-Atkins

→ Third Rock Ventures-backed regenerative play Ambys Medicines, which closed $107 million in total Series A funding last month, has tapped Corinne Foo-Atkins as the company’s first-ever chief strategy officer. Foo-Atkins hails from NGM Biopharmaceuticals, where she served as VP, product strategy. Prior to that, Foo-Atkins held roles at Genentech, Novartis and McKinsey and Company.

Alisa Lask

→ Rochester, MN-based exosome biotech RION has appointed Alisa Lask as chief commercial officer. Lask, who has a decade at Eli Lilly under her belt, was an exec with Galderma from 2014-21, becoming VP & general manager, US aesthetics, and for three years before that, she worked in global strategic marketing, facial aesthetics for Allergan.

→ XyloCor, which is working on a regenerative heart disease gene therapy, has picked up Elizabeth Tarka as CMO and Brian Davis as CFO. Tarka most recently served as CMO at Idera Pharmaceuticals and was previously VP, clinical development at Complexa. Earlier in her career, Tarka worked at Janssen and GSK. Meanwhile, Davis hails from Verrica Pharmaceuticals, where he served as CFO and also has experience in the chief finance chair at Strongbridge Biopharma, Tengion and Neose Technologies.

Bethany Sensenig

→ 9 Meters Biopharma, focused on the treatment of digestive diseases, has brought in Bethany Sensenig as CFO. Sensenig formerly served as VP of finance and commercial operations at Biogen and previously was CFO and head of US operations at Minovia Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, Sensenig had stints at Merck and Nexus Technologies.

→ Brisbane, CA-based Second Genome has bagged Joseph Dal Porto as CSO. Dal Porto has experience under his belt from stints at Pfizer, where he served as VP of the company’s emerging science & innovation division and site head for the company’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation — West Coast. Prior to that, Dal Porto was co-founder and director of preclinical research and development at Modus Biomedicine and held positions at Roche earlier in his career.

→ CRO-CDMO Sai Life Sciences has reeled in Sauri Gudlavalleti as COO. Gudlavalleti comes from a 7-year stint at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, where he was heading global R&D and portfolio management for small molecule API & formulations. Prior to Dr. Reddy’s, Gudlavalleti was with McKinsey & Company.

David Kaufman

→ David Kaufman has been promoted to partner at Third Rock Ventures, while Jigar Raythatha and Jeff Walsh enter the fray as venture partners. Before becoming a venture partner at Third Rock in 2020, Kaufman was CMO and head of translational development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. Raythatha completed a four-year run as CEO of Constellation Pharmaceuticals in August 2021, and Walsh — the former chief financial and strategy officer at bluebird bio — serves on the board of directors at Tenaya Therapeutics and Tevard Biosciences. These are far from the only recent additions at Third Rock, with Mark Angelino, Andrea van Elsas and Lorence Kim all jumping on board in the last year and a half.

→ Roche immunology and neurology partner Jnana Therapeutics is adding John Throup to the ranks as SVP, head of development. Throup joins from Bristol Myers Squibb, where he was serving as VP and development lead responsible for leading the development of assets in the immunology pipeline across early and late development. Prior to his stint at BMS, Throup had a 15-year stint at GSK.

Tyler Benedum

→ MPM-founded Aktis Oncology, vying to break through in the white-hot radiopharma space with such companies as ITM and RayzeBio (along with Big Pharma names like Bayer and Novartis), has appointed Tyler Benedum as VP, head of CMC and Daša Lipovšek as VP, head of lead discovery. Benedum is a veteran of Eli Lilly sub Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, where he served as VP of CMC development and manufacturing. Lipovšek comes to Aktis from Bristol Myers, where she served as scientific associate director, selection technologies and protein engineering.

Fang Li

→ Baltimore eye disease biotech Graybug Vision has brought on Fang Li as VP, regulatory affairs and Ali Kakavand as VP, head of program management. Li, who has regulatory experience from Alcon, Novartis and Iveric Bio, had been VP of regulatory affairs with Hurley Consulting for the last two years. After a short stay at Portola, Kakavand was Alexion’s director of strategy, program and portfolio management.

Ami Bavishi

→ New Haven, CT-based Rallybio, part of the IPO class of 2021, has brought on Ami Bavishi as head of investor relations and corporate communications. Most recently, Bavishi served as director of investor relations at Aerie Pharmaceuticals, where longtime CEO Vicente Anido was terminated back in September after a Phase IIb flop. Prior to Aerie, she served as VP of investor relations at Burns McClellan.

Peter Krein

→ Zach Hornby’s Boundless Bio, the San Diego oncology outfit that notched $105 million in a Series B round last April, has recruited Peter Krein as VP, precision medicine. Krein leaps to Boundless Bio after his stint as executive director, diagnostic development and medical affairs at Jacob Van Naarden-led Loxo Oncology at Lilly.

→ Toronto-based AXON has promoted Elisabeth Mozel-Jury to the role of VP, strategy and business development within the agency’s clinical studies practice. Mozel-Jury has been with the company since 2011 and most recently served as director in the public relations practice. Prior to AXON, Mozel-Jury was with Merck Serono.

Doug Quinn

→ Skin health-focused SkinBioTherapeutics is on the hunt for a full-time CFO. Doug Quinn has been serving as part-time CFO in the interim. Quinn has been with the company since 2016. The UK-based company hopes to snag someone by early second quarter, and the company is looking to recruit a new non-executive director.

Maria Fardis

→ Former Iovance CEO Maria Fardis is taking over as chair of Obsidian Therapeutics’ board of directors, succeeding Peter Barrett, who will remain as a member of the board. Fardis is a current venture partner at Frazier Life Sciences and has previously served as COO of Acerta Pharma and held roles at Pharmacyclics and Gilead.

Daniel Welch

→ Daniel Welch, the former chairman, president and CEO of InterMune — which Roche purchased in 2014 — has been appointed chairman of the board at GPCR startup ShouTi. Prior to running InterMune, Welch was chairman and CEO of Triangle Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Gilead in 2003.

→ After naming Ann Berman to the board of directors last summer, Immuneering has reserved a seat for Diana Hausman on the board. Hausman is the CMO of Blueprint sub Lengo Therapeutics and the former CMO of Zymeworks.

Laurie Keating

→ While we’re on the subject of Immuneering board members, Laurie Keating has also joined the board at PepGen, replacing Ramin Farzaneh-Far, who will remain acting CMO. After 10 years at Millennium, Keating became general counsel and secretary at Alnylam, rising to EVP, chief legal officer and secretary from 2019-21.

Alfonso Zulueta

→ Barbara Bodem and Alfonso “Chito” Zulueta have staked their claim to board seats at North Carolina-based Syneos Health. Bodem, a board member at Turning Point Therapeutics who retired last year as CFO of Hillrom, is the former SVP of finance at Mallinckrodt. Zululeta also retired after a 33-year career at Eli Lilly, closing out his time at the Indianapolis pharma as SVP and president of Lilly International.

Rakhshita Dhar

→ George Church amino-acid-to-protein-therapy spinout GRO Biosciences has added Rakhshita Dhar to the board of directors. Dhar recently joined Leaps by Bayer as senior director of venture investments health and is the ex-director of business development at Roche.

→ University of Colorado oncology spinout OnKure Therapeutics has given Nicholas Saccomano a spot on the board of directors. The ex-CSO at Array Biopharma, which was co-founded by OnKure CEO Tony Piscopio, Saccomano was CSO and site head of Pfizer R&D’s facility in Boulder.

Gary Bridger

→ Raking in an $80 million Series B round for its quest to drug RNA, Expansion Therapeutics has elected Gary Bridger to the board of directors. Bridger, the interim CSO and a board member at Liminal Biosciences, also sits on the board of X4 Pharmaceuticals.

→ London-based Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult has poached Ian McCubbin to its board of non-executive directors as chairman. McCubbin spent nearly a decade with GSK before his retirement in 2017. In response to the pandemic, McCubbin led the manufacturing activities of the UK Government’s Vaccines Task Force (VTF) between February 2020 and June 2021.

Bettina Cockroft

→ Bettina Cockroft is now a member of the board of directors at Doug Love’s Annexon Biosciences. Cockroft, a former clinical development exec at Cytokinetics, has been Sangamo’s CMO since September 2019.

→ Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics, which is developing its cytokine therapy IRX-2 for head and neck cancer and reeled in Susan McClatchey as VP and head of quality last month, has made two new additions to its board with the appointments of Erin Enright and Heather Redman. Enright currently serves as managing partner and co-founder at Prettybrook Partners, while Redman is managing partner at Flying Fish Partners.

→ Agricultural biotech Oerth Bio has pulled in Thong Le as an independent member of its board of directors. Le currently serves as senior managing director and CEO of Accelerator Life Science Partners. Le has served as founding CEO and director of Petra Pharma, RodeoTherapeutics and Lodo Therapeutics.

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Bolsonaro Indicted By Brazilian Police For Falsifying Covid-19 Vaccine Records

Bolsonaro Indicted By Brazilian Police For Falsifying Covid-19 Vaccine Records

Federal police in Brazil have indicted former President Jair…

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March 19, 2024

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Bolsonaro Indicted By Brazilian Police For Falsifying Covid-19 Vaccine Records

Federal police in Brazil have indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro for falsifying his Covid-19 vaccine card in order to travel to the United States and elsewhere during the pandemic.

Federal prosecutors will review the indictment and decide whether to pursue the case - which would be the first time the former president has faced criminal charges.

According to the indictment, Bolsonaro ordered a top deputy to obtain falsified Covid-19 vaccine records of himself and his 13-year-old daughter in late 2022, right before he flew to Florida for a three-month stay following his election loss.

Brazilian police are also waiting to hear back from the US DOJ on whether Bolsonaro used said cards to enter the United States, which would open him up to further criminal charges, the NY Times reports.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly claimed not to have received the Covid-19 vaccine, but denies any involvement in a plan to falsify his vaccination records. A previous investigation by Brazil's comptroller general concluded that Bolsonaro's vaccination records were false.

The records show that Bolsonaro, a COVID-19 skeptic who publicly opposed the vaccine, received a dose of the immunizer in a public healthcare center in Sao Paulo in July 2021. [ZH: hilarious, Reuters calling the vaccine an 'immunizer.']

The investigation concluded, however, that the former president had left the city the previous day and didn't leave Brasilia until three days later, according to a statement.

The nurse listed in the records as having applied the vaccine on Bolsonaro denied doing so and was no longer working at the center. The listed vaccine lot was also not available on that date, the comptroller general's office said. -Reuters

"It's a selective investigation. I'm calm, I don't owe anything," Bolsonaro told Reuters. "The world knows that I didn't take the vaccine."

During the pandemic, Bolsonaro panned the vaccine - and instead insisted on alternative treatments such as Ivermectin, which has antiviral properties against Covid-19. For this, he was investigated by Brazil's congress, which recommended that the former president be charged with "crimes against humanity," among other things, for his actions during the pandemic.

In May, Brazilian police raided Bolsonaro's home, confiscating his cell phone and arresting one of his closest aides and two of his security cards in connection to the vaccine record investigation.

Brazil's electoral court ruled that Bolsonaro can't run for public office until 2030 after he suggested that the country's voting system was rigged. For that, he has to sit out the 2026 election.

Tyler Durden Tue, 03/19/2024 - 11:00

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This gambling tech stock is future-proofing the world’s casinos

Supported by the universal thrill of a quick payout and the need for leisure, gambling stocks make a compelling case for long-term returns.
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Supported by the universal human thrill of a quick payout, and the need for leisure and entertainment to bring enjoyment to adult life, casinos will remain essential spaces for people to dream and play for the foreseeable future, making gambling stocks a prospective space to look for long-term returns.

According to Research and Markets, the global casino industry was valued at US$157.5 billion in 2022, and it will grow to US$224.1 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5 per cent. This trend includes:

Approximately 100 million gamblers in the United States, who generated US$66.5 billion in revenue in 2023, a 10 per cent gain from 2022, which itself was a record year A little fewer than 20 million gamblers in Canada, who generated about C$15 billion in revenue in 2023 A global addressable market of thousands of casinos, and more than 4.2 billion people who gamble at least once every year, according to a 2016 study by Casino.org

The main challenge with attracting these billions through casino doors is they sway heavily toward middle age. The mean age of U.S. casino visitors has hovered around 50 for the past decade, with a similar trend across the world, forcing casinos to attract younger, tech-savvy customers, many with less gambling experience, to continue growing profits for their stakeholders over the long term.

Investors seeking exposure to a leadership position in building the bridge between casinos and the next generation of gamblers should evaluate Jackpot Digital (TSXV:JJ). The Vancouver-based company is a manufacturer of dealerless electronic table games that deliver immersive experiences tailored to the digital age, while earning casinos attractive returns on investment.

The gambling technology stock benefits from no direct competition in the dealerless poker space, with orders spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, a long-established presence with major cruise ship brands, such as Carnival, Princess Cruises and Holland America, and a growing land-based presence with orders or ongoing installations across 12 U.S. states. Its highlight partnership to date is a master services agreement with Penn Entertainment, the country’s largest regional gaming operator with 43 properties across 20 states.

Jackpot Digital’s differentiated technology and well-rounded management team are at the heart of its success in landing several blue-chip casino gaming companies as customers.

Jackpot Blitz

The gambling technology stock’s flagship product, Jackpot Blitz, is a dealerless poker table featuring three of the world’s most popular variations – Texas Hold’ em, Omaha, and Five-Card-Omaha – brought to life through slick 4k graphics on a 75-inch touchscreen, and offered in three formats – pot-limit, no-limit and fixed-limit – designed to attract a diversity of revenue from casual to experienced players.

Spokesperson and NFL championship-winning coach Jimmy Johnson explains the benefits of the Jackpot Blitz. Source: Jackpot Digital.

The table also comes equipped with house-banked mini-games, including blackjack, baccarat and video poker, as well as side bets on the main poker game, such as Bet the Flop, all of which keep players engaged and entertained between, and even during, poker hands. The stunning Jackpot Blitz machine also offers multi-venue “Bad Beat” jackpot functionality, allowing casinos to offer a “Poker Powerball” with massive Jackpots, further enhancing the attractiveness of Jackpot Blitz to new players.

It’s by striking a balance between the needs of the modern gambler, and efficiency and profitability that in-person operators couldn’t hope to match – unless they ordered the machine for themselves – that Jackpot Digital has earned itself the top spot in dealerless poker.

Player benefits

When a veteran or novice gambler takes a seat at the Jackpot Blitz, his or her experience begins with an easy-to-use interface, laid out in a modern and stylish design, programmed to respond to hand gestures that bring real casino play into the digital age, including card bending and chip jingling.

Source: Jackpot Digital.

The table’s intuitive controls, combined with instant payouts and its dealerless nature, translate into faster game play, which maximizes playing time and player excitement, while minimizing human error and the intimidation new gamblers might feel about approaching an analog poker table. The gambling technology stock’s in-house development team is also constantly working on new games to keep content fresh, with a special focus on bringing international games and regional versions of poker to casino audiences in Asia, South America and the Indian subcontinent.

As hands are laid down and pots pile up, players can also track game stats in real time, which inform future strategy and enhance the thrill of the moment with an added element of competition.

Operator benefits

From an operator’s perspective, a floor of automated gaming tables can meaningfully and instantly reduce casino staff expenditures and management pain points, while avoiding wage inflation, labour shortages and supply costs.

The Blitz is no slouch on revenue either, dealing more hands per hour, resulting in higher revenue and higher profitability, which is further enhanced by onboard side bets and mini-games that can be played while players are engaged in a poker hand.

The Jackpot Blitz’s economics are attractive to operators thanks to its ability to accommodate non-stop play, while monetizing downtime through side games and bets. While a human dealer must spend time shuffling, interacting with players, and consulting with colleagues, the Jackpot Blitz can accept wagers 100 per cent of the time, making sure gamblers get the action they came for and operators see a return on their investment.

Source: Jackpot Digital.

Beyond gaming revenue, casinos are further incentivized to onboard the Jackpot Blitz because of its fully customizable advertising functions, including logos, card backs, chips and felt colors, all of which bolster casino culture and enable the pursuit of revenue from third-party advertising partners.

The Blitz ties its value proposition together by generating automatic reports – including demographics and consumer behaviour through a rewards card system – and plugging directly into most back-end management systems, saving casinos the hassle of manual tracking, while also minimizing tampering, money-laundering and theft through the use of isolated servers.

Whether it’s streamlining the player experience or putting automation at the service of operators’ bottom lines, Jackpot Digital’s flagship product is positioned to create value, and plenty of it.

Jackpot Digital’s path to profitability

After existing as an exclusively cruise-ship-based operation since 2015, Jackpot Digital suffered a steep decline in revenue during the COVID pandemic, falling from C$2.18 million in 2019 to C$0.42 million in 2021.

Management quickly pivoted in the face of uncertainty, redesigning the Blitz to execute on a land-based expansion strategy – backed by Gaming Labs International certification in fall 2023 – which is bringing about a successful turnaround after the re-emergence of the casino business. Revenue more than tripled to C$1.43 million in 2022, and reached C$1.57 million through three quarters of 2023, with the company expecting to ramp up significant recurring revenue after it installs several dozen machines currently in its backlog.

The Jackpot Blitz electronic gaming table in action. Source: Jackpot Digital.

The first installation of land-ready Jackpot Blitz machines is now completed at the Jackson Rancheria Casino in California, as the company announced today. The three-machine installation marks a new era of growth for the company, having announced 25 Blitz deals since November 2021 (slide 12), with many more across Canada and the United States in the works, in addition to a strong pipeline in Asia and Europe.

“Jackpot Digital could be a profitable company right now if it only focused on care and maintenance of the revenues it currently generates. But that’s not why we’re here,” Mathieu McDonald, Vice President of Corporate Development at Jackpot Digital, said in a recent interview with Stockhouse. “We intend to scale up to many multiples of the tables we have out right now, with the potential for up to 2,000 tables over the next three to five years.”

According to McDonald, the company is fielding three to five inquiries per week about the Blitz from casinos around the world that recognize the machines’ first-mover advantage in dealerless poker and potential expansion into other games in need of automation.

Jackpot Digital’s ambitious plan of action is supported by a management team of proven gambling, finance, advertising and legal professionals, many of which have been serving Jackpot stakeholders for more than two decades.

A long-tenured management team

The management team behind Jackpot Digital is led by Jake Kalpakian, who has served as president and chief executive officer since 1999, including under the gambling technology stock’s former incarnation as Las Vegas From Home.com Entertainment Inc. Kalpakian brings more than 30 years of experience managing small-cap publicly listed companies, granting him a steady hand when it comes to maneuvering through the volatility of the economic cycle.

Kalpakian’s efforts are supported by three directors whose well-rounded expertise positions Jackpot Digital for long-term sustainable growth:

Gregory T. McFarlane, a director at Jackpot Digital since 1999, previously ran an independent advertising firm and holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto. McFarlane is also a co-founder of the popular Control Your Cash personal finance website. Chief financial officer Neil Spellman, a director at the company since 2002, boasts an almost two-decade track record as vice president at Wall Street firm Smith Barney, where he developed a multi-industry understanding of the journey to profitability. Finally, Alan Artunian, a director since 2017, currently serves as CEO of Nice Guy Holdings, a corporate and legal consulting company advising clients across a diversity of sectors.

Guided by a strategic management team, and benefiting from a macro-trend toward casino automation, Jackpot Digital is on course to ride a wave of millions of gamblers looking for an elegant, tech-informed alternative to traditional in-person play.

A multi-bagger opportunity

The Jackpot Digital opportunity sets up savvy investors who recognize the soundness of the company’s value proposition. The tremendous risk/reward value of Jackpot Digital gives investors the opportunity to ride the macro-trend toward casino automation, as deals for the Blitz keep pouring in, the company adds games to its portfolio, and the global casino industry adds hundreds of billions in revenue through this decade.

Join the discussion: Find out what everybody’s saying about this gambling technology stock on the Jackpot Digital Bullboard.

This is sponsored content issued on behalf of Jackpot Digital, please see full disclaimer here.

The post This gambling tech stock is future-proofing the world’s casinos appeared first on The Market Online Canada.

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International

Gates-backed PhIII study tuberculosis vaccine study gets underway

A large study of an experimental vaccine for the world’s biggest infectious disease has finally kicked off in South Africa.
The Bill & Melinda Gates…

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March 19, 2024

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A large study of an experimental vaccine for the world’s biggest infectious disease has finally kicked off in South Africa.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (MRI) will test a tuberculosis vaccine’s ability to prevent latent infections from causing potentially deadly lung disease. Last summer the nonprofit said it would foot $400 million of the estimated $550 million cost of running the 20,000-person Phase III trial.

It’s a pivotal moment for a vaccine whose origins date back 25 years when scientists identified two proteins that triggered strong immunity to the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. A fusion of those proteins, paired with the tree bark-derived adjuvant that helps power GSK’s shingles shot, comprise the so-called M72 vaccine.

Thomas Scriba

After decades of failures in the field, the vaccine impressed scientists in 2018 when GSK found that it was 54% efficacious at preventing lung disease in a 3,600-person Phase IIb study.

But the Big Pharma decided that a full-blown trial was too expensive to conduct on its own. Gates MRI stepped in to license the vaccine in early 2020, right before the Covid pandemic shifted global vaccine priorities towards the coronavirus, further stalling the tuberculosis shot.

“There’s been frustration that it’s taken so long to get this trial up and running,” Thomas Scriba, deputy director of immunology for the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, told Endpoints News last summer.

At last, the vaccine is getting a chance to prove itself in a bigger study. If successful, it could lead to the first new shot for tuberculosis in over a century.

Emilio Emini, CEO of the Gates MRI, told Endpoints that the initial results may come in roughly four to six years. “Hopefully this will galvanize a refocus on TB,” he said. “It’s been ignored for many, many years. We can’t ignore it anymore.”

A substantial impact

Even though an existing vaccine helps protect babies and children against severe tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for the disease still causes roughly 10 million new cases and 500,000 deaths each year.

Emilio Emini

By vaccinating adolescents and adults who test positive for infections but don’t have symptoms of lung disease, the Gates MRI hopes the shot will help prevent mild infections from becoming severe ones, curtail transmission of the bug, which is predominantly driven by people with lung disease, and reduce deaths.

“The impact would be substantial,” Emini said. But he cautioned that the biology behind mild and severe diseases is still mysterious. “The reality is that no one really knows what keeps it under control.”

The study, which will take place at 60 sites across seven countries, will include some people who are not infected with tuberculosis to ensure that the vaccine is safe in that broader population.

“Having to pre-test everybody is not going to make the vaccine easy to deliver,” Emini said. If the vaccine is ultimately approved, it will likely be used in targeted communities with high tuberculosis, rather than across a whole country, he added. “In practice, you would immunize everybody in those populations.”

Emini described the Gates MRI’s rights to the vaccine as “close to a worldwide license.” GSK retained rights to commercialize the vaccine in certain countries but declined to specify which ones.

A spokesperson for GSK said that the company “has around 30 assets under development specifically for global health … none of which are expected to generate significant return on investment.”

“It is not sustainable or practical in the longer term for GSK to deliver all of these alone. So we continue to work on M72, but in partnership with others,” the spokesperson added.

If the shot works, Emini said that the Gates MRI will sublicense it to a manufacturer that will be responsible for making and marketing the vaccine. The details are still being worked out, he noted.

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