Diagnostics firm at ‘exciting phase’ despite missed opportunity
Genedrive, the Manchester-based molecular testing business, is at an “exciting phase”, said chief executive, David Budd, today.
He was announcing final results, to June 30, for the firm which revealed it achieved revenue of £0.7m, compared with £1.1m in 2020, but reduced losses, from a £19.4m loss last year to £0.7m this year.
The company held cash of £2.6m at the end of the year, compared with £8.2m the previous year.
It also announced its balance sheet is debt free, following the conversion of £2.5m loan notes.
Unaudited cash stood at £7.3m at October 31, 2021, after a successful equity fundraise of £7.1m announced in September.
During the reporting period Genedrive successfully completed antibiotic induced hearing loss trials, with 750 babies tested, accuracy confirmed at 100%, and a key opinion leader launch ongoing.
Post year-end a new Genedrive system was CE marked and product launched on September 29.
Mountain Horse Solutions was appointed as specialist US military distributors in March 2021 to drive the US military adoption, and point of care (POC) COVID-19 studies to support final CE submission stage are due to complete imminently.
Chairman, Dr Ian Gilham, admitted that the company’s high throughput COVID-19 test, the Genedrive 96 SARS CoV-2 Kit, that was the foundation of an equity raise in May 2020, represented a missed opportunity.
He said: “We had high expectations for the product that performed well in independent studies, but our commercial traction fell short of our expectations.
“In hindsight our product was too late to the market to benefit from the rapid wave of regulatory approvals.”
He added: “Looking forwards we see small pockets of demand globally and as we enter the winter months we are hopeful for additional sales.
“We are disappointed with falling short on expectation with this new product, but are taking the lessons learned into our commercial plans for our POC COVID-19 product.”
Chief executive, David Budd, said, following the completion of the £7.1m fund raise, the business is now in a strong position to launch its two new POC products.
“There is potential for our high throughput COVID-19 test to generate some demand in the winter months and we are hopeful of a successful outcome on the indicative order with the US DoD (Department of Defence), however, our current key commercial assets are with CoV-POC and AIHL, with the short term strategy for CoV-POC to support the cash requirements of the business until AIHL is sufficiently embedded in clinical process that uptake ramps aggressively.
“This strategy and our knowledge of these POC products provide us with confidence that we will deliver strong growth and increased shareholder value going forwards.”
He added: “We are at an exciting phase for the company with both the AIHL and CoV-POC products about to enter their commercial stages.
“Our balance sheet is strengthened following the recent equity raise and we are well placed to drive shareholder value going forwards.”
