Tough market conditions fail to halt progress at life sciences company
York-based life sciences business, Aptamer Group, has hailed commercial and technical advances as it publishes full year results for the 12 months ended 30 June 2024.
It recorded revenues of £900,000 (2023: £1.8m), an adjusted EBITDA loss of £2.8m (2023: £4.7m) and a pre-tax loss of £3.1m (2023: £8.3m pre-tax loss).
In the same period, the company reported £3.5m worth of net proceeds received from equity raising in August and September 2023. Post period end the business achieved a successful fundraise in August 2024 of £2.6m (net).
Arron Tolley, chief executive officer, said: “Over the past year, we have made significant progress commercially and technically, under challenging market conditions.
“The group has focused on three key aspects of our strategy: internal asset development; regaining commercial traction; and cost discipline.
“We have rebuilt and expanded the pipeline over the year, demonstrating a positive trajectory in revenue recognition with 65% of the year’s total revenue realised in the second half and increased our collaborations with top 10 pharmaceutical partners.
“We have underscored the growing demand for Optimer technology and the rising recognition of our platform within the industry.
“These developments have been made in parallel with substantial reductions to the cost base and a continued commitment to tight cost discipline supporting the future of the group.”
Aptamer develops custom affinity binders through its proprietary Optimer® platform, which can serve as an alternative to antibodies and enable new approaches in therapeutics, diagnostics, and research applications.
The firm has highlighted increasing revenue momentum in the second half of the financial year and £1m worth of orders won in the last quarter.
The business says it has secured an increasing number of contracts for Optimer immunohistochemistry development, reinforcing its reputation in this segment of the market.
In the drug delivery space, data generated internally facilitated the signing of a substantial contract for Aptamer’s Optimer delivery vehicles for gene therapies and initiated a post-period collaboration with AstraZeneca to explore the use of its molecules for drug delivery in fibrotic liver disease.
Also, Aptamer says its partnership with Unilever has made considerable progress towards the use of Optimer binders in treating malodour in deodorant products.
