Gubra A S

Welcome to today's event with Gubra, and the focus for today's event will of course be the cancelled half-year contract that came earlier this morning, but also the adjustment to Outlook for 2025, which came last night. And from Gubra, as always, the CEO Henrik Blau and CFO Christian Borbos are also participating, and he will come into the picture when he will present. As always, this event will of course be recorded, and when we have edited the event, we will share it on our platform, and I'm sure Goob will also like to do it on theirs. And as usual, I would like to welcome all investors to this event, and as always, if you have any questions, then ask the questions, and I will give them to Henrik and Christian afterwards. So with that said, I would like to welcome you, Henrik, and take care.

Thank you, Klaus, and also from my side, welcome to those who are listening today. We have had the pleasure of presenting the results from the first half of this year, and we have, as usual, taken some slides with us. First of all, quite briefly, who is Gubber? Well, we are experts in metabolic diseases. We have a lot of focus on birth and overweight, but also on other diseases related to metabolism. We have a hybrid business model, where the expertise we have built up within the early research of these diseases, we sell as a service, research services to other companies, and that is among other things 16 of the world's 20 largest pharmaceutical companies that are customers in our service business. But we also use this expertise to model our own programs, and that's what we call Discovery and Partnerships, where we model the programs to the right place, and then we engage in partnerships. And today we are about 275 colleagues, and we have a long history with growth, and it is exemplified by this slide, which shows all the way back from the early days, how Goober has grown. The blue part here shows the turnover in the service business, and that is in euros and millions, we have listed it here. And the pink part shows the turnover in Discovery and Partnerships. And it is so that the service business has a more glass ball, where Discovery and Partnerships come in in more individual positions when an agreement is made or a small PIL payment is made. This graph shows the numbers with 24 years of fantastic growth journey so far, but we have also taken a version with us where we have set the turnover in the first half of 25 years. And it just shows a little about the size of the agreement we made with AbbVie, what it meant. It meant we got a large upfront payment. And yes, it is in a completely different order than what we have been used to before. Some of the highlights that have been in the first half of the year, the first one we have taken with us, is also related to this ABI collaboration. It was our Ameline program, where we started this collaboration with ABI. In the agreement, there are 2.2 billion dollars in upfront and meal payment and royalties. The 350 million dollars was the upfront payment, which was reflected in the slide we just saw. This means that we have been able to pay a dividend of 1 billion Danish kroner to our shareholders earlier this year. In this GUP-AMI program, we could present strong data from phase 1, which is called MAD, Multiple Assembling Dose. This is where you give several doses to the same test subjects over time. In this case, it was a six-week treatment with one weekly treatment. In this experiment, we confirmed what we had seen earlier, The substance is well-tolerated, there is a very long halving time and it also gives a significant reduction in weight on the test subjects. So that's exactly what you want to see when you develop a drug for overweight. Another very exciting program we have in our pipeline is the UCM2 program, which aims at a high quality weight loss. We have shown data that shows that it can go in and rebuild some of the lost muscle mass, which can be a problem on the gyms. With overweight treatments, you not only lose fat, but also muscle mass. So we have some exciting data on it, and also that it has a beneficial effect for the heart and kidneys. And we are working hard in the sanatorium program to make sure that it is tested in humans for the first time, and that it should happen according to plan early in 2026, when it starts. Then we have the CRO business. And we experienced a drop in Q1 compared to Q1 last year in turnover. In Q2, we could actually see a rise compared to last year at 12%, i.e. Q2 versus Q2 last year. But that is not enough for us to reach our outlook for the whole year. And that's why we came yesterday with a new outlook for the rest of the year. And what we say there is that we expect to come a little lower in terms of turnover than we did last year. This is due to the fact that we in the American market see a calmness in decisions. It is simply a longer time for customers to make decisions, to place orders. And on the other hand, we actually see a fine line in Europe and also on the less Asian market. But as I said, it is something that is isolated to the American market, but it is important to us, and that is why it is reflected in this way. Furthermore, we were recently told that we have a new CEO on the way in. I thank you after 10 years in Gubre. It has been absolutely fantastic and exciting. It has been an incredible journey that I have been on here. We have had this planned process where we have found a new person. Markus Rohvild will arrive on September 8th. Gubra's pipeline looks like this, and now we are in what we call the partnership part of Gubra, and the green projects here are the ones that are not yet partnered. And as you can see, the UCN2 program I talked about before is the one that is the furthest out of the programs. We have a number of other programs that are not partnered either. And then we have all the little ones. These are programs that are already in partnership. Four partnerships with Børing & Engelheim, and a partnership with Amelux, a partnership with HeMap, and then, as mentioned, the last shot on the stem, the Amelin partnership with AbbVie. So a very broad pipeline and a solid pipeline in our optics, give the size of the cupra. And if we zoom in quite briefly on the amylin program, it is developed to be a weekly amylin analogue for the treatment of And Gup Ami, as we call it, is an amylin analogue that has a balanced profile, that is, it affects both the amylin receptors and the calcitonin receptors in the same way that natural amylin does. We have optimized this to have a really long halving time. In our phase 1 trial, we have demonstrated a halving time of 11 days. And it gives a weight loss if you take it alone. We have also shown in preclinical trials that it can be combined with other weight loss treatments and give an even greater weight loss in this way. It is a really good drug in our store. It is stable both physically and chemically, and it can be formulated with neutral pH. And it is an important factor if you want to develop it as a combination product. And then we have a long patent exclusivity. So all things that made us think it looked so attractive and therefore came in as a partner on the program. In the data we have shown so far, there is a SAD, it is a phase 1 study, single ascending dose, and that is where each trial person gets one dose of the substance. And there we saw that with just a single dose of the substance, one could achieve a weight reduction of about 3% against those who received a placebo, which increased by about 1% in growth. So that was the first exciting indicator of what could be done. In the MAD part, we could demonstrate that in those who got 2 mg in 6 weeks, they could achieve a value of 7.8% versus a 2% decrease for those who received placebo. Very, very strong data in our optics. 11 days of halving time and we are fully engaged in running the program further and we are really, really happy to see that that we expand the development opportunities for this program in the studies that are running right now. So that was exactly what we hoped to see by having a very, very strong partner on board with the program. The second thing you look for is an absolute weight loss. It is so that UCN2 is also developed to be a suitable treatment. And what UCN2 can do, in the fields that have been shown in these laboratory experiments, is to go in and work with body composition. It is so today that if you are on one of the approved weight loss drugs, then you lose weight quickly enough, but the whole weight loss is not a fat mass you lose. 20-40% of the weight that you achieve is actually what you call lean body mass, such as muscles that are lost. And that is not always optimal. If you can come in and make a product that makes it 100% lean body mass that you lose, then it is an advantage. And that is what the UCN2 program can do. It goes towards a better body composition. We see in laboratory models that it increases muscle mass and reduces fat mass. So it is not necessarily that it in itself gives a large weight gain, but it can therefore change the body composition away from fat and muscle. At the same time, we can see a valid effect on the heart and on the kidneys, and that is also desirable in that both heart and liver are often affected in a situation of overweight. So very exciting data. We have also put some slides on our website today. If you want to dive a little deeper into these effects on the muscles, we see, among other things, less fat in the muscles and we have also shown with other slides earlier that we can go in and recover the lost muscle mass if you have been on a traditional weight loss treatment. Again, it's early days, it's not tested in humans yet. All the data is from laboratory models, but super interesting perspectives. And that's where we're pressing everything we can, and that's the plan, to get it tested in humans for the first time in the beginning of next year. And then we come to the financial outlook, and then I will leave the stage to you, Christian.

Thank you, Jannik. You have already mentioned your network. First, we saw a little decline in the American market versus Europe, which is doing fine. We know from small biotechs that it is a bit more difficult to get funding in the American market, and that affects their ability to send new studies to groups. This also means that it may wait a little before placing an order. Not as a significant change, but we have seen, like many other CEOs, have seen a decline in the American market. This is the turbulent environment we are in, and also with limited or slightly limited financing opportunities compared to last year. This is why we have adjusted our outlook for our CEO management to be a turnover that is slightly lower than last year. When you have a fixed turnover that we have with employees, we have also reduced our expectation of income with EBIT margin by around 20%. That is also a pretty good level, but it is lower than we expected. For the Discovery Partnership segment, it is an unchanged expectation, where we have a guide on turnover. So if you have to conclude on the quarter, the second quarter, then it would have been the best thing ever for Gruber. It was an incredibly fantastic development in both turnover and revenue. We must not forget that. We have reduced our expectations for the CO segment by something for the whole year, but it does not change the fact that we come with a half-year contract that is extremely strong. With that in mind, Claus, we would like to move on to questions, and then I would like to take the floor.

Thank you very much, Christian, and thank you Henrik for a good and thorough presentation.

It's something with the sound, so just give me a second, then I'll see if we have any sound that's ringing here. Give me one second here.

Yes.

Now it works very well again, Claus.

Yes. Well, great. That's good, Christian. And thanks for that, Christian. And thanks for a really good presentation, Henrik. And there are of course some questions out there. I also have some questions. There is a little funny question, Henrik, and it's hard to ask you if it's because it's going a little in the future. But I know you're so well involved in the stories, so we'll give it a shot anyway. But the new CEO, as you mentioned, he steps in here, and it's relatively undramatic. We can also read that from the press release. But at the same time, we made some small adjustments to your strategy at the beginning of the year. Should we see this as an expression that there are new strategic priorities, which is not unnatural when a new man comes in, or should we expect that there is still continuity in things? And I know Henrik, everything can happen the day you are not there again, but you have of course made some considerations. You are in a completely different company today than when you took over, as you also mentioned in the first part.

Maybe Christian can supplement a little, but there is at least a question that goes a little on that. Yes, but I would very much like to throw myself into a answer that you can expect a very high degree of continuity. It is clear that we think that we have developed Gubre to a really, really good place and we are really strong. When that is said, a new CEO must also come in and look at the topic and be part of setting the direction forward. So I would expect that Marcus over time will clearly put his finger on Gubra, what kind of company it is and what direction it takes, but within the universe that we already know Gubra in. That would be my expectation. I don't know if you want to supplement here, Christian?

No, we have made a strategy for 2030 together with the administration. And the strategic direction is something that the owners and the administration back up. And then of course we have one captain from the ship who can make his considerations. But the strategic direction where we We would like to have more projects in the clinic. We want to build new flagships such as Women's Health. I have a lot of confidence that it will not end. We also get a person with a strong background in science. Her name is Markus. The science angle at Guber is that we are scientific entrepreneurs, but it has become increasingly stale. So I don't see any change in the strategic direction for Guber. It is perhaps more the details on the way that a new CEO would express in his own way.

Super. Thank you, Henrik and Christian. Christian, let us stay with you. You are adjusting your guidance. At the beginning of the year, we saw a decline in the USA, and they actually mentioned in the press release that they saw a good underlying growth in Europe. And you mentioned at the conference call with us, and probably also with the analysts, that there were some challenges in the USA. Now you specifically mention that there are some challenges there. Do you see the challenges materializing, so it also affects a little longer term, understood in the way that customers withdraw projects within one of the major growth areas, which you have been great at? Or is it just, as you write, that these decision-making processes draw a little out of funding, and what we feel in general in the biotech world? I don't know if you can comment on that.

Last year was also There was also an administration at that time and a lot of funding was available for small biotechs. Basically, the need to develop a new treatment for obesity has not changed anything. But there is a bit of timing to get funding, especially for the smaller biotechs. We can see that this year, it is not as easy for our customers to finance what they want to do. So the interest in developing in obesity, we don't see it disappearing. It's more about getting funding for projects. Five or six, then you probably run only three projects. Or if you only have one project in your small biotech business, then you might wait until You have funding, there should be a lot of dialogue going on all the time, but it takes a long time before you make decisions. And that's why we can't achieve what we expect with 10 to 20 percent growth. And that should also be said, they come from above a growth of 30% both in 2023 and 2024, so it could just also be established as an important service provider in pre-clinical pre-clinical service providers so it's Europa kører tilgængeligen fint, men som vi ser, er det jo individuelt mere som et amerikansk fundament. Man kan også se det hos de andre COO'er, hvor det også mærker en finansieringsmulighed, som er ikke lige så god som de var sidste år.

Ja, altså kigger vi to år tilbage, og hvis vi så bare tager udgangspunkt i jeres Midterm Guide, Then you wouldn't have been where you are now. So it's just to get a little more flavor. So it's a consultation period. Now you mention the small companies, Christian, do you also see And now it becomes a little more specific, do you also change behavior among the medium-sized and larger, or is it primarily the smaller ones? It's always those who participate, right?

Yes, we see it primarily as the smaller biotech.

I can ask a little about what you experience in Europe, because are there other segments you experience growth in there than in the USA? Now there was something new on MASH from one of It would be nice to say the competitors, but I know you have been historically very strong on MASH.

We have seen a return in MASH as well. Now we don't have to speculate, but now a drug has been approved for the treatment of fatty liver also by a large actor in Denmark. And so it can potentially give some encouragement that you want to test it together with a treatment for fatty liver. That we have to see, but what we can see in the numbers now is primarily the less American biotech, which is the one that has participated and has affected in the largest extent. The larger companies have slightly longer horizons, a slightly better financing, naturally. So it's the extra customers that I've seen in 2023 and 2024, It hasn't come to the same extent as before. If you look at grants, what it's called in Danish, which is a public grant, which many American libraries have, it has also been markedly lower in 2025. So there is something to it. The economic environment has also affected groups. Basically, there is a great demand to develop new resources in the field we operate in. But there are certainly some periods, such as now, where there is not as good financing opportunities as they were last year. Now we don't have to, now we use a lot of energy on this as well. We have to remember, We are somewhat in line with last year, which was the best year of the group ever. But we are more ambitious, we want to grow over time with 10% per year. So it's also important that last year was the best year ever for the group, for our SEO business. So it's good to have these perspectives. dramatize it more than it actually is.

Yes, absolutely, Christian. And now we're used to it. That's one of the problems you get used to, that you have to press on PF5 to get an upgrade. And now there's a little downgrade, but it's on a high level, so I think most investors are completely aware of that. And you can actually see that in today's Axie course. They start with a few credits over the day. May I just ask a question then to Henrik here, because When we started with BAME, I know Henrik, now you are in partnership agreements. It was always so difficult. What can you say, what can't you say? But if we take the starting point of what happened before we went into partnership agreements, then I can at least remember, because we have held some events together, this halving time. how interesting it was. And there has been some writing in the last six months about these tablet-based treatments, which primarily helped. We saw Pfizer, they had to withdraw their product due to some unfortunate side effects. We have seen Lilly, which actually comes out with a bit of shocking data according to them. And you always have to take it seriously. And then we saw Viking Therapeutics earlier this week, which actually has a really bad side effect, or in that way is 20% off. because of side effects, otherwise the data was fine. How do you see the potential? Going back to one thing you introduced, an agreement with APVI, is there a possibility, Henrik, that we can see an improved dosing regime with the halving time you have? There are differentiated possibilities for tolerability and treatment frequency. That's what I wanted to ask.

Yes, first of all, our Gubami is developing as an injectable. It must be initiated. Most of them are on the market today. It's by design, so it doesn't work like an oral substance. You could speculate that it could be combined with technologies on the long run, etc. But it is in development now as an injectable.

I'm sorry, Henrik. I was just thinking about the injectables over the tablet-based and the negative, a little negative development that has been on the tablets. And then the advantages that might be on the amylins compared to the GLPs.

That was one of the many reasons I phrased it like that. What I think, and you also agree on, is a halving time of 11 days. That's a long time, it's more than a week. Is there room for longer dosage intervals? And that is clearly a relevant question to ask. And we can also see that we have been out and saying that this is something they are interested in with this material. So yes, of course it is interesting. We also see that Gubami, like many other amylins, is very well tolerated. And that can mean that you can probably go up in a relatively high dose and thus drive a greater effect. possibly have an impact on the dosage interval. If you can give a higher dose, then it can also be that you can have longer time with them. So amylin and guberni in some cases covers a lot of exciting possibilities. And we note with great satisfaction that we, they go in with fully develop this and also explore even more possibilities than we originally had set up. So again, it's in their hands, it's also them who will communicate results, data and plans. So we can't comment on that much, we can just comment that it is with great satisfaction what we see from a certain point of view.

Super. Many thanks Henrik. And then I actually think the time is up. So, unless there are more questions from the investors, which obviously does not work that way. So I would like to start by saying Henrik, thank you very much for a good collaboration. All the presentations you have made with us and good luck in the future. We hope you get up somewhere again. Yes, thank you very much. And Christian, I would also like to say thank you to you. We will soon be open again. And then I would like to say thank you to all the investors for participating today and the good questions. And then I wish everyone a good afternoon. As I said, I will stop today's event. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Claus.