TB deal could boost Epistem revenues by £1.2m
MANCHESTER diagnostics firm Epistem expects to see full year sales and earnings boosted by a deal with the quoted medical group Becton Dickinson.
In a pre-close trading statement for the year to the end of June, the company said revenues stood at £5.4m with a further £1m-£1.2m expected on the successful completion of discussions with Becton Dickinson (BD) which wants to make and distribute Epistem’s TB test globally.
A post tax loss of £1.2m will be reduced to £300,000-£400,000 after taking into account the Becton deal.
The AIM-listed company’s main product is Genedrive, a machine which uses molecular diagnosis to provide a rapid test which can quickly highlight a range of conditions.
It said the development of Genedrive had been the key focus of its personalised medicine division, with the preclinical research services arm and its Novel Therapies businesses broadly in line with the prior year. Following the cash placing of £4.2m in December 2012 net cash was £6.2m at June 30.
The company said: “The BD agreement provided for Epistem to receive an upfront payment of $1m and potential further milestone payments of up to $3m. Neither the upfront payment nor any milestone payments have been recognised as revenue, pending the company agreeing with BD to expand the supply and distribution agreement to include manufacturing of the TB test.
“Discussions with BD are now at an advanced stage and, if successfully concluded, will result in Epistem recognising £1m-£1.2m of these revenues in the year ended 30 June 2013.”
Epistem said Jeff Moore, managing director of the Novel Therapies arm, is to resign as a director to pursue other interests.
