Allergy Therapeutics plc (LON: AGY), the fully integrated commercial biotechnology company specialising in allergy vaccines, has today provided a trading update for the year ended 30 June 2019 ahead of its Preliminary Results to be announced on 25 September 2019.
Financials
As previously announced, the Group now expects earnings for the full year 2019 to be ahead of market expectations. Net revenue is expected to be £73.7m (2018: £68.3m) representing 8% annual growth on a reported and constant currency basis reflective of strong performance. The Group is continuing to gain market share within its core markets in Europe and data for the key markets for the 12 months ending 31 March 2019 showed a 0.6 market share point increase1. Overheads are expected to be in line with market expectations.
The cash balance at the end of June 2019 was £27.4m (30 June 2018: £15.5m) which includes $7.6m (£6m) received before year end in settlement of litigation against Inflamax and three of its senior employees regarding a clinical trial, which ATL alleged was poorly run by Inflamax, as announced on 28 June 2019.
On current assumptions, the Group will be able to fund the Grass MATA MPL Phase III trial currently planned to start in autumn 2020 from existing resources. If the trial is successful, and subject to completion of the safety database, the Group will pursue regulatory filing in the US, opening up a potential market of approximately $2 billion.
Commercial
In addition to the continued progress of its European business, the Group is exploring the potential distribution of its products in other markets, including China, and will provide an update when further information is available.
Pipeline
The Group had a good meeting with Swissmedic, the Swiss regulatory authority, to discuss the potential protocol for the first in human trial of its VLP-based (Virus-like Particle) Peanut product, due to start in H1 2020, and also continues to make good progress with the commercial scale-up process for this product. The Group is also looking to expand the VLP technology into other allergy areas.
Manuel Llobet, CEO at Allergy Therapeutics, stated:
“Our strong, technically advanced and convenient product portfolio continues to perform well in the market and has facilitated 20 years of strong revenue growth. It is a testament to our patient-focused strategy that we continued to increase market share this year. We have made further progress on the pipeline portfolio and the Group’s meeting with the Swiss regulatory authorities was an important milestone in the development of our exciting peanut product.”
1Market data and internal estimates for 12 months to 31 March 2019, for the markets in which Allergy Therapeutics operates excluding Switzerland (competitor data not available)
