Health Care

| HEALTH CARE | With vaccine work, PPD sees growth in Q3

With key indicators – such as earnings, new orders and order backlog – on the rise, PPD Chairman and CEO David Simmons announced that the third quarter of 2020 has been a “strong quarter” for the global contract research organization based in Wilmington.

“We have continued to focus on executing for our customers as we navigate through the pandemic,” Simmons said in a recent news release. “This is evident in our continued momentum with double-digit growth in net authorizations, revenue and adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] over last year.

“Furthermore, we are proud that PPD is continuing to play a leading role in the development of vaccines and therapies for COVID-19, now having won more than 140 awards for work associated with the virus.”

PPD Inc. (Nasdaq: PPD) has helped facilitate work as a partner with Moderna, which has one of the COVID-19 vaccines in development.

PHOTO C/O PPD Drug development: Moderna, with assistance from PPD, is conducting its third phase of a study to develop a potential vaccine against COVID-19.

Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc. announced in late October the completion of the enrollment of 30,000 participants in what the firm calls its Phase 3 COVE study.

“To date, more than 25,650 participants have received their second vaccination,” stated a Moderna news release.

PPD has been “essential to the successful execution to date of the COVE study,” Moderna officials said in the release.

PPD also supported Moderna’s Phase 2 study.

In PPD’s earnings call Oct. 28, Simmons said that COVID-related work has represented about 20% of its authorizations this past quarter. Even disregarding that segment of PPD’s work, growth was up in Q3 year over year, he said, attributing that growth partly to the company’s accelerated pace in starting work after contract awards.

PPD finished the quarter with $803 million in cash and total liquidity of $1.1 billion, “which represents the strongest quarter-end liquidity position in over 10 years,” officials stated.

Assuming no significant reduction in site access, patient enrollment and other key operating metrics in Q4 as a result of COVID-19, and that there are no major delays or cancellations of COVID-19 studies during the fourth quarter from safety concerns or other issues, PPD expects revenues for the fourth quarter to be in the $1.25 billion to nearly $1.3 billion range, a year-over-year increase of between 20% and 24%.

Looking at its fiscal year 2020 as a whole, PPD expects revenues of

BETTER CARE THROUGH CLINICAL RESEARCH

For almost 50 years, Wilmington Health has been a part of the community, and for over 20 years, our research division, WH Research, has led the region in clinical trials. No other area provider is as experienced or as respected. Our goal is to ensure the best medical care for our patients, while maintaining an active role in the development of new treatments and medications. We’re at the forefront of medicine, so that our patients are at the forefront of TRUE Care.

between nearly $4.5 billion and $4.6 billion, which would be an increase of between 13.5% and 14.5% over those of FY2019. - Christina Haley O’Neal and Jenny Callison

NHRMC plans $210M hospital in Scotts Hill

More details are emerging on plans by New Hanover Regional Medical Center to build a new community hospital near the New Hanover County-Pender County line.

In a Certificate of Need filing by NHRMC with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the health care system is seeking approval of plans for a nearly $210 million hospital with a total of 66 beds that is projected to open in October 2024.

“The growth and aging of the New Hanover County population is driving the need for additional hospital services,” said Andre Boyd, NHRMC’s COO, in an email. “The Scotts Hill hospital would offer care closer to home to all in the busy U.S. 17 corridor … Our partnership with Novant Health, which is under regulatory review, will support these kinds of investments in improving access to health care.”

The application seeks permission for a facility with 66 acute-care beds that would include 36 new beds as well as 30 others to be relocated from NHRMC’s current Orthopedic Hospital campus.

“With the combined capacity constraints at NHRMC’s main campus on 17th Street in downtown Wilmington and planned closure of the nearby NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital, NHRMC is in need of expanded capacity at a new location to accommodate shifting patient volumes. This will free up capacity at NHRMC Main to continue serving higher acuity patients from across the county and region and ensure that there is no gap in care for patients historically served by the Orthopedic Hospital,” the filing says.

The new hospital, if approved, would incorporate NHRMC’s free-standing Emergency Department-North at 151 Scotts Hill Medical Drive, which the Certificate of Need application gives as the address for the proposed hospital.

The application projects that 70% of the acute-care beds at the new facility would serve patients from New Hanover County, 15% from Pender

County, 5% from Brunswick County and the balance from Onslow, Columbus and other counties.

The community hospital is proposed to have eight operating rooms.

Of the 66 beds at the new hospital, 58 would be medical/surgical beds and eight would be ICU beds. Additionally, six observation beds would be available for short-term use.

More than $3 billion is earmarked for both routine capital expenses and strategic master plan projects like the Scotts Hill project under the final agreement reached by Novant Health, New Hanover County and NHRMC for the proposed purchase of the Wilmington-based health care system.

There is no indication when state officials may act on NHRMC’s Certificate of Need application. - Neil Cotiaux

Dosher announces CEO, president appointments

Dosher Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees officials in October that they have permanently appointed Brad Hilaman as CEO and Lynda Stanley as the hospital’s president.

Both Hilaman and Stanley, who were named interim CEO and president, respectively, in February, have a long history with Dosher and the local community

Hilaman has been affiliated with Dosher since 1995.

“A well-known and respected obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Hilaman recently retired from Dosher’s Women’s Health clinic. He is also the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer and primarily responsible for the direction and management of the hospital’s highly successful and award-winning Wound Center,” a news release stated.

Stanley was COO of Dosher from 1986 until 2014 when she became president of the hospital’s newly formed foundation. She has been a key figure in the success of the Dosher Hospital Foundation and the formation of the Brunswick Wellness Coalition, officials said.

“We have great confidence that Dosher is well positioned to handle all of the challenges and changes that the healthcare world continues to face, and to excel at strategically planning for our future,” Robert Howard, Dosher hospital trustees chairman, said in the release.