Oncimmune Holdings plc (LON:ONC), the leading global immunodiagnostics group, today announced its audited results for the year ended 31 May 2021 and provides an update on recent progress and the outlook for the current financial year.
Operational and commercial highlights:
ImmunoINSIGHTS
· Continued to strengthen strategic relationships with Roche and Genentech as well as with other global pharmaceutical companies
· Following the successful deployment of UK Government funding for the development of an infectious diseases research tool for use in COVID-19, the period saw the launch of an infectious diseases panel resulting in contracts with Roche and multiple contracts with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
· Agreement signed with a leading global pharmaceutical company to utilise the NavigAID autoimmune disease characterisation panel to explore the autoantibody profiles of patients with four key autoimmune diseases
· Agreements with three leading global pharmaceutical companies to utilise the SeroTag immuno-oncology discovery array to explore the autoantibody binding profiles of solid tumour cancer patients treated with immunotherapy
· Renewal of existing partnership with Oncimmune continuing to provide autoantibody biomarker services to a global pharmaceutical company, with two initial projects started to profile patients in autoimmune trials
· Further research published in leading journals including Arthritis Research & Therapy1 and PLOSOne2, alongside pre-publication of the first results from collaboration with Cedars-Sinai3
EarlyCDT Lung
· Pilot in Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group initiated, representing the first sales of the EarlyCDT Lung test into the NHS
· iDx Lung4 programme launched, with 350 patients recruited to date in Southampton and Leeds
· US partner for EarlyCDT Lung, Biodesix, seeing a recovery in demand, with planned expansion of its national sales team from 32 to 76 by the end of 2022
· EarlyCDT Lung authorised for use by the Spanish Public Health Service with the Galician Health Service (SERGAS), the first public health service in Spain to use the EarlyCDT Lung test
· Diagnosticos da America, Latin America’s largest medical diagnostic company, to offer EarlyCDT Lung across its extensive laboratory, private hospital and clinic network
· Successful return of the IP and distribution rights for EarlyCDT in the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong from Genostics Company Limited, allowing Oncimmune to pursue the optimum route to market
· Results from the ECLS study published in the European Respiratory Journal5 and pre-publication of the three-year follow-up data6 supports a trend towards a mortality benefit of the EarlyCDT Lung blood test, confirming the number of late-stage cancers and deaths to be lower in patients tested with EarlyCDT Lung
· Additional results published in PLOSOne showed that EarlyCDT Lung and CT surveillance has been found to be highly cost-effective in early detection compared to CT surveillance alone7
Financial highlights:
· Revenue of £3.7M (FY2020: £0.5M) validates the Company’s core strategy of focusing on building a leading immunodiagnostics group; with significant growth driven by conversion from an expanding pipeline of ImmunoINSIGHTS opportunities
· The revenue reported is lower than the headline £5.6M indicated in the unaudited full-year trading update issued on 8 June, due largely to revenue recognition relating to an invoice for £1.7M to an historic EarlyCDT Lung distributor. The Group is unable to recognise this revenue in the year ended 31 May 2021 as the revenue recognition requirements of IFRS 15 have not been met at this time
· The ImmunoINSIGHTS service business showed strong growth in revenue, profitability and cash generation during the period
· Successful equity placing in March 2021 with gross proceeds of £9M to enable a 4x scale-up in ImmunoINSIGHTS operating capacity to meet increasing demand from customers, and the expansion of commercial team to support customers, particularly in the US
· Continued tight management of cost base following the cost reduction programme initiated in 2018
Recent progress and FY2022 outlook:
· Scale up of the Dortmund facility in progress and capable of handling upwards of 40,000 samples per annum by Q1 FY2023
· Continued commercial success from the infectious diseases platform across existing and new contracts
· Commercial sales team expansion in the US underway with recent key hires on the East and West coasts. With a clear majority of all ImmunoINSIGHTS contracts currently and historically being awarded are from the US
· Evaluating additional expansion of scientific and bioinformatics capability in the US to deliver US-based projects
· Second pilot to provide EarlyCDT Lung tests into the NHS already signed and expected to commence in Q3 FY2022
· After quieter than expected summer months in which fewer new ImmunoINSIGHTS contracts were signed than originally expected, there has been a healthy resumption of activity and a strong rate of conversion of the commercial pipeline into service contracts, underpinning confidence in FY2022 revenue growth from both new opportunities and follow-on contracts
· Longer term prospects remain compelling, with the conversion of a number of initial services contracts into multiple projects serving to demonstrate the Group’s ability to develop deeper and broader strategic commercial partnerships, of increasing value and longevity
Dr Adam M Hill, CEO of Oncimmune Holdings, commented: “We are pleased to announce our full year results for the 2021 financial year. Over the period, the ImmunoINSIGHTS business has allowed us to broaden our pipeline of opportunities whilst deepening our engagement with key customers. As demonstrated by the number of follow-on contracts being signed and our growing commercial pipeline, we are experiencing increased recognition for our services by our partners and customers. With significant momentum moving into the second quarter of FY2022, driven by the highly differentiated ImmunoINSIGHTS service, we look forward to another year demonstrating the success against our three-year strategic plan to unlock the Group’s growth potential.”
“On behalf of the Board, we would like to thank all our employees for their dedication during a period of high growth and investment despite the impact of COVID-19. We would also like to thank investors for their continuing support through the oversubscribed placing during the period in support of our growth plans and are pleased to be able to report continued strong delivery against the Group’s goals over the period.”
The company also announced the appointment of Singer Capital Markets as nominated adviser and joint broker, with immediate effect. WG Partners will continue to support the Company in its role as joint broker.
