Genedrive sales will begin soon, says Epistem
Epistem said this morning that it expects to start seeing revenues from its new Genedrive molecular diagnostic kit by the end of June.
A joint statement issued to the markets by chairman David Evans and chief executive Matthew Walls said that it expects to see revenues from the product, which they described as “novel and disruptive in its market position”, by the end of the second half of its financial year to June 30.
The Manchester-based epithelial stem cell research company said that the Genedrive device will initially be used to provide test results for sexually transmitted diseases which can be delivered in clinics within around 25 minutes.
The announcement was made as the announced a £200,00 increase in revenues to £3m in the six months to December 31, 2010, which helped to push pre-tax profits higher to £102,000 (2009: £5,000).
However, around £1m worth of exceptional costs led to a drop in its cash balance, and it finished the period with net funds of £4.3m, compared with £5.4m six months earlier.
Some £200,000 of this relates to investment in Genedrive, but the remaining £800,000 was due to “non-cash-related profit and loss adjustments”.
Epistem said that sales in its largest division, Contract Research,increased by 19% during the first half of the year 0 £1.4m, buoyed somewhat by the renewal of a bio-defence contract signed with the US National Institute of Health.
The firm said that it expected the division’s revenues to keep increasing during the second half of the year as well.
Meanwhile, its Novel Therapies division, which last week announced a $4m deal with sanofi-aventis, said that the funded research phase of an earlier agreement with Novartis had now completed.
“We anticipate discussions continuing over the coming months around how best to develop the novel hits/leads that have emerged,” the company said.
It added that discussions were also being progressed with other drug companies about using its biomarker technology in areas such as regenerative medicine and oncology.
“We remain committed to advancing our expertise and heritage in stem cells and to extending our international profile in scientific excellence across the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and regenerative medicine industries.
“The board remains confident that the group is well placed to deliver increasing shareholder value in the medium term based on its current performance and on the opportunities now emerging.”
