LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Europe-focussed rare and orphan drug consulting services platform Open Orphan announced the signing of a preferred partner agreement with Ipsen Group on Monday.
The AIM-traded firm said the agreement selected Venn Life Sciences - part of the Open Orphan group - as the preferred partner for Ipsen's data management and biostatistics.

It said the preferred vendor structure would last for a three-year period.

The partnership had already delivered substantial revenues for the Open Orphan group, the board said, adding that it positioned the business as an integrated drug development partner for biopharma companies in Europe such as Ipsen.

Open Orphan said the partnership was part of its strategy to transform Venn Life Sciences, and was expected to be one of many long-term partnership contracts which was anticipated to deliver recurring revenues for the business.

The company said its aim was to transform Venn through restructuring the business to reduce operational leverage, increase revenue, improve operating margins and launch additional complementary services.

"When we completed the reverse takeover of Venn earlier this summer we promised shareholders that one of our key objectives would be to transform Venn into a profitable pharma services company," said chief executive officer Cathal Friel.

"This partnership is the first of many steps to make Venn profitable and deliver a re-rating of the business to be in line with the wider sector. I look forward to announcing more positive news in due course."

At 1442 GMT, shares in Open Orphan were up 2.77% at 6.29p.

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