--- title: "Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH)" publisher: "Share Talk" author: "sharetalk" published: "2020-01-22T10:06:27+00:00" modified: "2020-01-23T10:28:55+00:00" date: 2020-01-22 canonical: "https://www.share-talk.com/cathal-friel-executive-chairman-of-open-orphan-plc-lonorph/" category: "Exclusive Interviews" categories: ["Exclusive Interviews", "Healthcare"] tags: ["Cathal Friel", "hVIVO", "Open Orphan", "ORPH", "pharmaceutical"] image: "https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Stencil-Google-Chrome-2023-04-19-at-2.47.43-PM.jpeg?fit=1231%2C615&quality=89&ssl=1" format: "news" language: "en-GB" --- # Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) **Published:** January 22, 2020 **Author:** sharetalk **Categories:** Exclusive Interviews, Healthcare **Tags:** Cathal Friel, hVIVO, Open Orphan, ORPH, pharmaceutical **Featured image:** ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Stencil-Google-Chrome-2023-04-19-at-2.47.43-PM.jpeg?fit=1231%2C615&quality=89&ssl=1) --- Open Orphan Plc announced the [completion of its acquisition of UK-based hVivo Plc](https://www.share-talk.com/open-orphan-plc-lonorph-completion-of-merger-with-hvivo-and-re-admission/) on Monday, 20th January 2020.     **Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of Open Orphan commented,** “I am hugely excited by the combination of Open Orphan and hVIVO. We have a fantastic team, substantial revenue potential and the opportunity to grow quickly in the year ahead. I am personally participating in the placing as I believe in the strategy of the business and its ability to deliver substantial returns to shareholders in the next 12 months.” **Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) Completion of Merger with hVIVO and Re-Admission** **Highlights:** · Completion of merger between Open Orphan and hVIVO creating a European full pharma services company in a compelling strategic combination · Enhanced management and Board with a strong operational track record and M&A experience o Cathal Friel, moving to Executive Chairman with a full-time hands-on role in the business o Trevor Phillips and Tim Sharpington becoming CEO and COO, respectively, of the enlarged group o New board with the appointment of Michael Meade as an additional non-executive director, along with Brendan Buckley and Mark Warne as non-executive directors and Trevor Philips and Cathal Friel as executive directors · Combination creates a platform of highly specialised, complementary CRO service providers · Combined robust pipeline of over £100 million at January 2020. The Group is focused on building long term contracts with recurring revenues. Open Orphan has confirmed signed contracts of €10.5m as of January 2020 which is the highest in its history with an additional €4m at an advanced stage with clients under an existing MSA. Open Orphan is successfully moving Venn away from short-term contracts to long-term, 3-year contracts with recurring revenues e.g. IPSEN (Nov ’19) and a German Tier One pharma company (Jan ’20). hVIVO has a solid pipeline of identified and pitched for contracts of £81.2m as of January 2020, which is significantly higher than the prior two years · A number of joint Open Orphan and hVIVO pitches have already been submitted to hVIVO clients with the now expanded Venn service capability · Estimated operational synergies of £3.1m in 2020 rising to £4.4m in 2021 – longer-term revenue synergy potential through utilisation of Open Orphan’s Phase II capabilities for hVIVO’s challenge study clients · New combined revenue model unlocks potential for substantial revenue growth and sustainable profitability – by combining Open Orphan’s existing preclinical, phase 1 and Phase 2, regulatory and other services along with hVivo which is an industry leading services provider in viral challenge studies and laboratory services creating a leading European specialist pharma services company · Proposed placing to raise £5m – underwritten by up to £2.5m by Raglan Capital – to support the Group’s growth plans **Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of Open Orphan commented:** “I am hugely excited by the combination of Open Orphan and hVIVO. We have a fantastic team, substantial revenue potential and the opportunity to grow quickly in the year ahead. I am personally participating in the placing as I believe in the strategy of the business and its ability to deliver substantial returns to shareholders in the next 12 months.” **Trevor Phillips, CEO of Open Orphan commented:** “We now have an industry leading team with the ability to generate substantial revenue growth and profitability, delivering the leadership’s vision to create a successful European full pharma services company. With the now complementary and wider specialist CRO services offering, it gives us the opportunity to generate substantially larger revenues and over the full-time course of the customer relationship. With a robust combined pipeline, I am confident we have the solid platform to achieve our goals.” --- **Original URL:** https://www.share-talk.com/cathal-friel-executive-chairman-of-open-orphan-plc-lonorph/ *Created by [WP Markdown Endpoint](https://wpmarkdownendpoint.com/)*