Market Newsdesk

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Delphix, the pioneer in programmable data infrastructure, today announced the appointment of David McJannet, CEO of HashiCorp and former Executive in Residence at Greylock Partners, to its Board of Directors.

“David’s domain expertise with DevOps and multi-cloud infrastructure automation will be a key advantage for us as we continue to pioneer data automation,” said Delphix CEO Jedidiah Yueh. “Our programmable data infrastructure enables DevOps teams to keep up with emerging data privacy regulations and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines to accelerate digital transformation.”

McJannet has more than 20 years of experience spanning product management, operations, finance, and marketing with a focus on open source and infrastructure software. Prior to HashiCorp, he was an Executive in Residence at Greylock Partners. Before that, McJannet ran marketing at GitHub and Hortonworks. At Hortonworks, he built and led the marketing organization that supported the company through multiple phases of growth, including reaching more than $100 million in annual revenue within four years of its inception, and a successful IPO in 2014. Prior to Hortonworks, McJannet led the marketing function for SpringSource at VMware, which included the Spring Framework, Cloud Foundry, and other key technologies that became the company now known as Pivotal Software.

“Data is the lifeblood of modern companies and plays a role in shaping the outcome of digital transformation initiatives. Delphix’s focus on data governance and its ability to empower DevOps teams with fast, lightweight, and compliant data is a key differentiator. I’m pleased to join its board of directors, and to work with the Delphix leadership team as the company enters its next phase of growth,” said David McJannet.

Earlier this year, Delphix announced that its annual growth rate grew by over 85% for the fiscal year ending January 2021 compared to the prior year, pushing the company into non-GAAP profitability. The company also achieved a world-class Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 89 during the fiscal year ending January 2021. Delphix customers now include 24 of the Fortune 100 companies, 6 of the top 10 banks in North America, 5 of the top 10 telcos in the world, 60 insurance and health insurance providers, and 25 major retailers across the globe.

Join Delphix at the upcoming Data Company Conference. WSJ bestselling author and award-winning CTO Gene Kim will headline the conference as the guest keynote speaker. The virtual event brings together industry experts, business leaders, and partners to share what it takes to innovate responsibly and create a more diverse and equitable economy. The conference will also explore new strategies and growing trends in DevOps & CI/CD, cloud, data compliance, and AI/ML. The event will be held on June 8th, 2021, and is open to attendees worldwide.

About Delphix

Delphix is the pioneer in programmable data infrastructure. Delphix automates the biggest constraint in digital transformation programs—the data. Cloud, CI/CD, and AI/ML all have a voracious appetite for data and development environments. With our multi-cloud data platform, enterprises can adopt cloud 30% faster, release software 50% faster, and access 90% more data for AI/ML, while protecting personal data privacy and maintaining compliance with GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, etc. For more information, visit www.delphix.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Contact

Orlando de Bruce
VP of Corporate Marketing & Brand
[email protected]

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced that AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su will keynote COMPUTEX 2021, one of the leading global technology tradeshows focused on the theme of “Building Global Technology Ecosystems” in 2021. Dr. Su will present the AMD vision for the future of computing, including the growing adoption of AMD high-performance computing and graphics solutions in the keynote titled “AMD Accelerating – The High-Performance Computing Ecosystem.” The digital keynote will be livestreamed at 10:00 AM (GMT+8) on Tuesday, June 1 and can be accessed on the COMPUTEX 2021 Hybrid platform as well as AMD.com.

Organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), this year’s COMPUTEX is rolling out “COMPUTEX 2021 Hybrid” for the first time by combining onsite events with #COMPUTEXVirtual for a more accessible and comprehensive experience.

To register for COMPUTEX 2021 Hybrid or to view the latest show information, visit www.computextaipei.com.tw. You can watch the AMD COMPUTEX keynote here.

Supporting Resources

• Sign up to attend the keynote virtually at AMD.com.
• Become a fan of AMD on Facebook
• Follow AMD on Twitter

About AMD

For 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. 

About COMPUTEX 2021 Hybrid:

As a pioneer in technology, COMPUTEX has been on the forefront in embracing digital transformation. COMPUTEX will launch the Online-Merge-Offline (OMO) exhibition platform “COMPUTEX 2021 Hybrid” in 2021. As the event organizer, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) aims to deliver an exceptional exhibition experience by combining #COMPUTEXVirtual with the onsite exhibition.

About TAITRA

Founded in 1970, TAITRA is Taiwan’s foremost nonprofit trade promoting organization. Sponsored by the government and industry organizations, TAITRA assists enterprises to expand their global reach. Headquartered in Taipei, TAITRA has a team of 1,300 specialists and operates 5 local offices in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as 63 branches worldwide. Together with Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) and Taiwan Trade Center (TTC), TAITRA has formed a global network dedicated to promoting world trade.

AMD, the AMD logo, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

• Brazil Phase 2 Pivotal clinical trial of COVI-MSC is now authorized to proceed.
• The study will compare therapy using mesenchymal stem cells to placebo (and standard of care) in 100 COVID-19 patients hospitalized due to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
• Given the emergency status in Brazil, Sorrento has worked with ANVISA to obtain fast turn-around for the Phase 2 Pivotal clinical trial submission following positive Phase 1b results in the U.S.
• Maintaining an extreme sense of urgency, Sorrento anticipates commencing enrollment of patients in the study in June 2021.

SAN DIEGO, May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRNE, “Sorrento”) today announced receipt of clearance from the Brazilian regulatory agency (ANVISA) to proceed with a Phase 2 Pivotal clinical trial of COVI-MSC™, an injectable infusion of mesenchymal stem cells, for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients suffering from ARDS.

The Brazil study is a Phase 2 Pivotal, multi-center, randomized, controlled study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of three infusions of COVI-MSC™, administered every other day, to hospitalized patients experiencing moderate or severe COVID-19 with ARDS. The study is expected to enroll 100 patients (33 placebo and 67 treated patients) in three months from the date of first enrollment. Sorrento expects this projected pace of enrollment due to the extensive COVID-19 disease burden in Brazil, Sorrento’s partnership with a leading local clinical research organization (Synova Health), and existing relationships with high quality medical centers throughout the country. The current partnership with Synova Health leverages high quality clinical trial sites in addition to a dozen centers already enrolling COVID-19 patients for another Sorrento Phase 2 clinical trial (Abivertinib). Additional studies are also being discussed for early clearance in parallel or immediately following this study. Priority access to multiple trials is being given to Brazilian patients following the rapid and openly collaborative interactions Sorrento has been able to establish with ANVISA regulators.

“We are very satisfied with the progress made in Brazil so far, and we have developed strong local relationships in support of multiple studies,” stated Dr. Henry Ji, Chairman and CEO of Sorrento. “By focusing on the geographies most impacted by COVID-19, we are able to implement synergistic programs to answer safety and efficacy questions related to our product candidates while helping patients where the disease has been spreading the most. We expect this next Phase 2 Pivotal study to confirm the clinical benefits initially observed in our recently completed open label Phase 1b study. If confirmed, we are ready to establish a plan for development and manufacturing commitments that are required by ANVISA to take the product candidate from clinical trials to emergency use authorization (EUA) approval, including generating the data needed to support making the drug accessible prior to any full registration.”

The study is referenced with ANVISA (Brazilian authority) under Process nº 25351.986743/2021-44, COMUNICADO ESPECIAL (CE) Nº 0004/21 – GSTCO/DIRE1/Anvisa.

Details of the Brazilian Clinical Study can be found at:
Study of Intravenous Administration of Allogeneic Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for COVID-19-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress – Full Text View – ClinicalTrials.gov

About Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. 

Sorrento is a clinical stage, antibody-centric, biopharmaceutical company developing new therapies to treat cancers and COVID-19. Sorrento’s multimodal, multipronged approach to fighting cancer is made possible by its extensive immuno-oncology platforms, including key assets such as fully human antibodies (“G-MAB™ library”), clinical stage immuno-cellular therapies (“CAR-T”, “DAR-T”), antibody-drug conjugates (“ADCs”), and clinical stage oncolytic virus (“Seprehvir^®“, “Seprehvec™”). Sorrento is also developing potential antiviral therapies and vaccines against coronaviruses, including COVIGUARD™, COVI-AMG™, COVISHIELD™, Gene-MAb™, COVI-MSC™ and COVIDROPS™; and diagnostic test solutions, including COVITRACK™, COVISTIX™ and COVITRACE™.

Sorrento’s commitment to life-enhancing therapies for patients is also demonstrated by our effort to advance a first-in-class (TRPV1 agonist) non-opioid pain management small molecule, resiniferatoxin (“RTX”), and SP-102 (10 mg, dexamethasone sodium phosphate viscous gel) (SEMDEXA™), a novel, viscous gel formulation of a widely used corticosteroid for epidural injections to treat lumbosacral radicular pain, or sciatica, and to commercialize ZTlido® (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% for the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia. RTX has completed a Phase 1B trial for intractable pain associated with cancer and a Phase 1B trial in osteoarthritis patients.  SEMDEXA is in a pivotal Phase 3 trial for the treatment of lumbosacral radicular pain, or sciatica. ZTlido® was approved by the FDA on February 28, 2018.

For more information, visit www.sorrentotherapeutics.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and any statements made for and during any presentation or meeting contain forward-looking statements related to Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., under the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the initiation of a Phase 2 study for COVI-MSC; the expected number of patients to be enrolled in the Phase 2 study; the expected timing for commencing and completing enrollment of the Phase 2 study; Sorrento’s expectation to utilize its partnership with Synova Health and other existing relationships with medical centers throughout Brazil to facilitate enrollment of the Phase 2 study; Sorrento’s ability to use centers enrolling COVID-19 patients for Sorrento’s Phase 2 clinical trial of Abivertinib for enrollment of patients in the Phase 2 clinical trial for COVI-MSC; the potential for the Phase 2 study to be considered for expansion as a global trial; the potential for Sorrento to recruit patients for the Phase 2 study in the U.S. and Brazil; the potential for additional studies to receive clearance in parallel or immediately following the Phase 2 study; Sorrento’s ability to implement synergistic programs that answer safety and efficacy questions related to product candidates; Sorrento’s expectation that the Phase 2 study will confirm clinical benefits initially observed in Sorrento’s open label Phase 1b study of COVI-MSC; the potential therapeutic benefits of COVI-MSC; Sorrento’s ability to establish a plan for development and manufacturing commitments needed for emergency use approval if clinical benefits of COVI-MSC are confirmed; the potential for pre-clinical and clinical data and results to be replicated in future clinical trials; regulatory approvals of COVI-MSC; and the completion of clinical trials of COVI-MSC. Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to: risks related to Sorrento’s and its subsidiaries’, affiliates’ and partners’ technologies and prospects and collaborations with partners, including, but not limited to risks related to seeking regulatory approval for COVI-MSC; clinical development risks, including risks in the progress, timing, cost, and results of clinical trials and product development programs; risk of difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals; risks that clinical study results may not meet any or all endpoints of a clinical study and that any data generated from such studies may not support a regulatory submission or approval; risks that prior test, study and trial results may not be replicated in future studies and trials; risks of manufacturing and supplying drug product; risks related to leveraging the expertise of its employees, subsidiaries, affiliates and partners to assist Sorrento in the execution of its therapeutic product candidates strategies; risks related to the global impact of COVID-19; and other risks that are described in Sorrento’s most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Sorrento’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors set forth in those filings. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement in this press release except as required by law.

Contact


Alexis Nahama, DVM (SVP Corporate Development)
Email: [email protected]

Sorrento® and the Sorrento logo are registered trademarks of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.
G-MAB™, DAR-T™, SOFUSA™, COVIGUARD^TM, COVI-AMG™, COVISHIELD™, Gene-MAb™, COVIDROPS™, COVI-MSC™, COVITRACK™, COVI-TRACE™ and COVISTIX™ are trademarks of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

SEMDEXA™ is a trademark of Semnur Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

ZTlido® is a trademark owned by Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

© 2021 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

NEW YORK, May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BigPanda, Inc., the leader in Event Correlation and Automation powered by AIOps, today announced its SaaS platform, which is integrated with Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG), is now available in the Datadog marketplace, providing access to the in-product integration tile to make BigPanda deployments rapid and intuitive.

Datadog consolidates metrics, traces, logs, and more, helping organizations scale their cloud environments, troubleshoot potential issues, and provide their customers with excellent digital experiences. Modern IT Ops teams turn to Datadog to help increase visibility across complex IT stacks. With BigPanda, they can correlate alerts from Datadog’s rich observability datasets with data from other third-party or custom tools into context-rich incidents. This significantly reduces alert noise in users’ environments while reducing Mean Time To Resolve (MTTR) and other MTTx metrics.

“We appreciate the commitment partners make to work together out-of-the-box,” said Caleb Easley, Cloud Monitoring Administrator for water-technology provider, Xylem Inc. “We have a growing set of data feeds coming from Datadog which we need to see in context of the rest of our monitoring data. The integration of Datadog with BigPanda’s Event Correlation and Automation platform made it easier for us to centralize our IT Ops data and make sense of an incident without a heavy lift from our team.”

“Datadog’s monitoring platform and BigPanda AIOps have both been crucial to delivering on our vision for modern incident management workflows,” said Chris Francosky, Senior Vice President, IT and Innovation at KORE Wireless, a global leader in Internet of Things (“IoT”) solutions and worldwide Connectivity-as-a-Service (“CaaS”). “The fact that IT teams can now access BigPanda on the Datadog marketplace and get BigPanda incident insights fed to the Datadog platform makes their collaboration even more powerful.”

In its recent 2021 Market Guide for AIOps*, Gartner said, “there is no future of IT operations that does not include AIOps,” and that “as organizations mature in AIOps adoption, they require a single domain-agnostic platform across I&O, DevOps, SRE and, in some cases, security practices.” Datadog customers can now increase the value of their investment in monitoring and observability tools by accessing BigPanda’s domain-agnostic AIOps platform.

“We’re thrilled to join the Datadog Partner Network and offer our service in the Datadog Marketplace,” said Assaf Resnick, CEO and co-founder at BigPanda. “Today’s IT Operations teams have to support DevOps-led environments which generate constant change and tremendous amounts of data…more than humans can tackle on their own. The combination of Datadog and BigPanda gives those teams domain-agnostic AIOps and automation to help them prevent and resolve incidents faster.”

The Datadog Marketplace connects Datadog customers with unique technology integrations that allow for more customization and flexibility. The Marketplace is a part of the Datadog Partner Network, which features benefits including access to dedicated sales and marketing resources and premium Datadog product training materials.

“We’re excited to welcome BigPanda into the Datadog Marketplace, bringing their event correlation and automation offerings into Datadog’s platform,” said Ilan Rabinovitch, Sr. Vice President for Product and Community, Datadog. “With information collected from service dependencies through Datadog APM, BigPanda is able to detect incidents and isolate infrastructure or application changes that may have led to an incident.”

The BigPanda AIOps platform will provide Datadog customers with three capabilities:

• Event Correlation: Intelligently correlates alerts from Datadog and other tools, creating a small number of actionable incidents and reducing noise
• Root Cause Analysis: Surfaces the probable root cause of an incident in real-time, including the likely change that caused it.
• Level-0 Automation: Shrinks MTTR by automating key incident response workflows, including creating notifications, tickets and war rooms.

The BigPanda SaaS solution is available on the Datadog Marketplace.

* Market Guide for AIOps Platforms – Published 6 April 2021 – ID G00735577, by Analysts Pankaj Prasad, Padraig Byrne, Josh Chessman

Why BigPanda

BigPanda keeps businesses running with AI that transforms IT data into insight and action. With BigPanda, businesses prevent IT outages, improve incident management and deliver incredible customer experiences.

Without BigPanda, IT Ops, NOC, and DevOps teams struggle with manual and reactive incident response capabilities that are badly suited for the scale, complexity and velocity of modern IT environments. This results in painful outages, unhappy customers, growing IT headcount and the inability to focus on innovation.

BigPanda’s platform for Event Correlation and Automation, powered by AIOps, helps Fortune 500 enterprises such as Intel, Cisco, United, Abbott, Marriott and Expedia take a giant step towards Autonomous IT Operations. BigPanda is backed by top-tier investors including Sequoia, Mayfield, Battery, Insight Partners and Greenfield Partners. Visit www.bigpanda.io for more information.

Media contact:
Sammy Totah
BOCA Communications for BigPanda
[email protected]

Houston, Texas, May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wellbore Integrity Solutions (WIS) announced today the release of its TruEdge^TM milling and cutting structure. The TruEdge provides an innovative, cost-saving solution for Well Abandonment and Slot Recovery applications.

“We chose to retain ’Edge‘ to highlight a technology progression from our current ’WavEdge‘ design,” said David MacNeill, President and CEO. “’Edge‘ is not only about the geometric shape – it also signifies superior performance. This is one of three milling structures in our portfolio: the Millmaster P5, the WavEdge, and the TruEdge.”

TruEdge is intended to be used across a broad range of milling and cutting applications, from section milling and casing milling, to cut and pull systems. This new technology has been successfully tested with several clients in the Eastern Hemisphere, specifically in the North Sea. The test results obtained have confirmed significant rig time savings and improved the overall efficiency of the milling process.

For more information about TruEdge, visit https://www.wellboreintegrity.com/milling-and-cutting.

###

About Wellbore Integrity Solutions
Wellbore Integrity Solutions (WIS) is a customer-focused platform to acquire assets and technologies to provide a comprehensive suite of products and services that enhance the life cycle of oil, gas, and geothermal wells. As a standalone independent company with a vertically integrated structure, WIS focuses on providing quality U.S. manufactured products delivered via a global engineering and field services footprint. Through our unique position in the energy industry, we serve the wellbore integrity needs of energy companies, service companies, and local partners. Operating in over 30 countries with more than 45 facility locations, WIS is focused on our customers utilizing integrated resources which include approximately 1000 employees globally encompassing 49 nationalities around the world. To learn more, visit www.wellboreintegrity.com.

Attachment

• TruEdge-1

OTTAWA, May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Overcoming Stigma, a suite of online resources to help Canadians recognize the various forms of stigma and their devastating impact on people who use substances, is now complete and available to the public. The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) developed the newly released second and third modules in partnership with the Community Addictions Peer Support Association (CAPSA). The full suite consists of three modules to help change the conversation around stigma and substance use.

The following modules are now available:

• The Pain of Stigma: Recognizing Stigma and Its Impacts
• Insights on Substance Use: Understanding the Science on Substance Use Disorder
• Stigma Ends with Me: Changing the Conversation about Substance Use

Stigma is a major barrier to wellness and good health for people who use substances. It often prevents people from seeking the help they need. Designed to challenge biases, each of the modules uses thought-provoking exercises and videos from experts in the field, including people with lived and living experience with substance use. The modules explain the science of substance use and substance use disorders. They also explore language that acknowledges substance use disorder as a medical condition and not a moral failing.

CCSA is proud to have partnered with CAPSA on these two modules and happy to have had their contributions to complete the suite of resources. How we approach stigma and substance use are part of an ongoing and changing conversation. Even small shifts in language can help to reduce the harms of stigma, improve wellness and break down barriers to recovery across Canada.

For more information on CCSA’s work on eliminating stigma, visit https://www.ccsa.ca/stigma.

Media contact

Wendy Schlachta, Communications Advisor, Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
Tel.: 1-833-235-4048 ext. 285 I Email: [email protected] I Twitter: @CCSAcanada

CCSA was created by Parliament to provide national leadership to address substance use in Canada. A trusted counsel, we provide national guidance to decision makers by harnessing the power of research, curating knowledge and bringing together diverse perspectives.

CCSA activities and products are made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views of CCSA do not necessarily represent the views of the Government of Canada.

PITTSFORD, N.Y., May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via NewMediaWire — Aphex BioCleanse Systems, Inc. (OTCPK: SNST) (“Aphex” or “the Company”), a sanitization solutions company focused on the development and distribution of non-toxic and water-based sanitization and disinfection products trademarked as Hy-IQ® Water, announced today that the Company has signed a partnership with Bifulco Consulting Group (“Bifulco Consulting”) to expand the Company’s distribution network to Bifulco Consulting’s extensive B2C and B2B network, including several Fortune 500 companies.

As part of the agreement, Bifulco Consulting will provide the Company with business development, marketing and sales consulting services. Additionally, Bifulco Consulting will facilitate securing distribution of the Company’s suite of products in targeted B2C and B2B channels and accounts to maximize sales.

“The Bifulco brothers are highly respected and have spent their professional careers leading sales and marketing functions and selling-in and servicing numerous enterprises of all sizes. Through this partnership, we intend to greatly expand our footprint and bring our safer and highly effective sanitization and disinfecting alternatives to homes, offices, hospitals, and commercial and retail establishments around the world,” said Aphex President and CEO David J. Weaver. 

Rick and Frank Bifulco are seasoned business leaders who possess complementary and extensive sales and marketing experience. Both are West Point graduates, Army veterans and results driven. Rick, the Founding Partner, had been North American Sales Manager for Mobil Chemical’s packaging division. For the past 24 years, he has operated his own very successful company connecting major packaging and paper suppliers with key accounts across the country. Frank, Managing Partner, began his career at Procter & Gamble and has held senior marketing leadership positions at The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot and Staples. 

“Aphex’s proprietary products have an incredibly unique and strong set of relevant attributes, including alcohol-free, nontoxic, non-flammable, non-irritating, hypo-allergenic and safe for children and pets,” stated Rick Bifulco. “Having a keen sense for what large-scale distribution companies are looking for in new products, I am confident that our current and prospective B2B and B2C partners will respond well to the Aphex offerings.”

If you are a distributor or company interested in using or offering Aphex’s sanitization products to your customers, please learn more at https://aphexus.com/about/ or contact Mark Washo, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales, at [email protected].

About Aphex BioCleanse Systems, Inc.
Aphex BioCleanse Systems, Inc is the developer of the world’s first proprietary non-alcohol, non-toxic, and hydrogen-based cleaning technology. The technology, called Hy-IQ® Water, has a unique method of action that uses hydrogen ions traveling nearly at the speed of light to breach the cell walls of exoskeleton germs. Preliminary research has proven that it is more effective in killing pathogens than alcohol-based solutions and the company is currently seeking to be the first FDA-approved hand sanitizer. Learn more about Aphex at www.aphexus.com.

FDA Statement
The statements in this document have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. The products and statements referenced in this document are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. 

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company’s current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:
[email protected]
www.aphexus.com
Phone: 1-585-386-0990

Address:
Aphex BioCleanse Systems Inc.
1162 Pittsford Victor Road Ste 220
Pittsford, NY 14534

For Aphex media inquiries, please contact:
Kathryn Brown
[email protected]
858-264-6600

www.cmwmedia.com

WHITTIER, Calif., May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Friendly Hills Bank (the “bank”) (OTCBB: FHLB) reported results for the first quarter of 2021 and announced its intention to form a holding company.

For the three month period ending March 31, 2021, the bank reported net income of $240,000 or $0.12 per diluted share of common stock. The bank reported net income of $164,000 or $0.08 per diluted share of common stock for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

As of March 31, 2021, the bank reported total assets of $214.1 million, a 32% increase from $162.4 million as of March 31, 2020, and a 5% increase from $204.2 million as of December 31, 2020. The bank’s loan portfolio, net of unearned income, increased 28% from $99.6 million as of March 31, 2020, to $127.2 million as of March 31, 2021. This reflects a 3% increase from $123.2 million as of December 31, 2020. The portfolio remains diversified with $64.1 million or 50% in Commercial & Industrial Loans to local businesses (including $23.3 million in Owner Occupied Commercial Real Estate Loans), $37.9 million or 30% in Commercial Real Estate Loans to investors and $21.6 million or 17% in Residential Real Estate Loans to investors. At March 31, 2021, the bank has an additional $20.5 million in unfunded loan commitments.

The bank’s overall deposit base has increased 46% in the twelve months ended March 31, 2021, from $117.8 million as of March 31, 2020, to $171.4 million as of March 31, 2021. The bank’s overall deposit base has increased 6% from $161.5 million as of December 31, 2020. Non-interest bearing deposits remain a substantial part of the deposit base (52%), increasing from $51.7 million as of March 31, 2020, to $89.3 million as of March 31, 2021. During the same time period, interest-bearing deposits increased from $66.1 million as of March 31, 2020, to $82.1 million on March 31, 2021.

At March 31, 2021, shareholders’ equity was $20.7 million and the bank’s total risk-based capital ratio was 21%, significantly exceeding the “well-capitalized” level of 10% prescribed under regulatory requirements. The bank also continues to maintain substantial liquidity positions, retaining significant balances of liquidity as well as available collateralized borrowings and other potential sources of liquidity.

The Board of Directors, and a majority of the bank’s shareholders, have also approved a holding company reorganization for the bank by which the bank will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Friendly Hills Bancorp (“Bancorp”). If the transaction is approved by the bank’s appropriate federal and California state regulatory authorities, each of the outstanding shares of the bank’s common stock will be exchanged for one share of Bancorp’s common stock. As a result, the shares of Bancorp’s common stock will be owned directly by the bank’s shareholders in the same proportion as their existing ownership of Bank common stock immediately prior to the reorganization.

In addition, the bank also previously announced the signing of a definitive agreement with Southern California Bancorp, (OTC Pink: BCAL), the holding company for Bank of Southern California, N.A., whereby the bank will acquire three Bank of Southern California offices. The offices are located in Orange, Redlands and Santa Fe Springs, California subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, including federal and state regulatory approval.

“We are pleased to report a strong start to the new year with a substantial increase in earnings per share in comparison to the previous year,” commented Jeffrey K. Ball, Chief Executive Officer. “The continued growth of the bank, and fee income from participation in the Paycheck Protection Program, have helped to offset continued decreases in interest rate margins associated with the sustained presence of low market interest rates. With these continued conditions, and the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic being uncertain, we remain focused on maintaining a strong balance sheet while finding strategic opportunities to expand our business. That strategy is reflected in our recent announcement that we are acquiring three additional branch offices from another bank (including a branch office in Santa Fe Springs, California which we intend to promptly consolidate into our existing Santa Fe Springs, California branch). These new offices will expand our footprint into additional markets which we feel provide great opportunity for our client focused strategy of relationship banking. Furthermore, the reorganization into a holding company structure, which we have considered for several years and which is a transaction independent from the branch purchase, will provide us with additional corporate and capital flexibility.”

Following the reorganization, it is expected that Bancorp’s common stock will trade under the same ticker symbol currently used by the Bank, “FHLB”.

The bank anticipates consummating the reorganization and branch office acquisitions in the third quarter of 2021.

Company Profile:

Friendly Hills Bank is a community bank which was formed to primarily serve the Southern California communities of eastern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County. The bank was established in 2006 by prominent members of the local community who were seeking an alternative to the larger financial institutions in the area. The bank is headquartered in Whittier, California with an additional branch office in Santa Fe Springs, California. For more information on the bank, please visit www.friendlyhillsbank.com or call 562-947-1920.

Forward Looking Statements:

The numbers in this press release are unaudited. Statements concerning future performance, developments or events, expectations for growth and income forecasts, and any other guidance on future periods, constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from stated expectations. Specific factors include, failure to receive regulatory approval or shareholder approval of the reorganization or branch purchase, a decision by the Board of Directors to abandon the reorganization, changes in the federal, state and local economies, decline in loan production, loss of clients, adverse regulatory and litigation developments, the ability to control costs and expenses, interest rate changes, the effects of COVID-19 on our business, borrowers, clients and employees, financial policies of the United States government, natural disasters and the impact of competition in our market area. The Bank disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect future events or developments except as required by law. 

Contacts:
Jeffrey K. Ball (President & CEO)
Viktor Uehlinger (EVP & CFO)
(562) 947-1920