Epistem confident on Genedrive prospects
CONTINUED investment into Epistem’s diagnostic device Genedrive pushed the firm to a loss in the year to June.
But the Manchester business, which emerged from the university’s Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, is confident of its future prospects after agreeing its first “high value” deal for the device.
The machine uses molecular diagnosis to provide a rapid test which can highlight a range of conditions within 30 minutes.
In August it signed a tuberculosis diagnostic supply and distribution agreement with medical technology group Becton, Dickinson and Company.
“The board believes Genedrive is poised to bring about a breakthrough in rapid, high sensitivity and low cost molecular (DNA) diagnostic testing ‘near to the patient’ across a broad range of disease areas,” said the company.
During the year revenue dipped 3% to £5.5m and the business recorded a pre-tax loss of £726,000 compared to a profit of £357,000 last time.
Epistem said it made progress across its two other divisions. Contract Research Revenues were steady at £2.9m, while Personalised Medicine more than doubled to £2.7m thanks to deals with French pharma giant Sanofi-Aventis and GSK to use the company’s biomarker technology in oncology and fibrosis programmes.
