Oxford Biomedica plc (LON:OXB), a leading cell and gene therapy group, has today announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31st December 2020.
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Biomedica, said:
“I am truly proud of the Group’s achievements over the period. We not only secured major new partnerships, brought the Oxbox manufacturing facility online in record time and responded to the challenges of the pandemic, but the team has also been able to rapidly work with AstraZeneca to provide a vaccine solution for COVID-19. This is a true testament to the world-class calibre and dedication of our staff in the year that the Group also gained entry to the FTSE250. Looking to the future, with the continued tide of growth in cell and gene therapy, coupled with the Group’s leadership position in the lentiviral vector field, we are well positioned to advance both our own proprietary pipeline and that of our current and future partners’ programmes. I would like to thank all of Oxford Biomedica’s employees for their hard work throughout 2020 and our shareholders and partners for their continued support, and I look forward to a successful 2021.”
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
– Total revenues increased by 37% to £87.7 million (2019: Revenue of £64.1 million)
– Bioprocessing and commercial development revenues increased by 45% to £68.5 million (2019: £47.3 million) with double digit growth across both activities, driven by new customers AstraZeneca, Beam Therapeutics and Juno/BMS
– Revenues from licences, milestones & royalties increased to £19.2 million (2019: £16.8 million) due to the recognition of a £7.8 million ($10 million) licence fee from Juno/BMS as well as other licence fees, milestones and royalties from customers
– Operating expenses1 increased by less than revenues, growing by 23% in the year to £51.7 million (2019: £41.9 million) aided by the move to the lower cost bioreactor manufacturing process
– Operating EBITDA2 profit of £7.3 million (2019: £5.2 million loss), marginally above guided range
– Operating loss incurred of £5.7 million (2019: £14.5 million loss)
– The platform segment generated an operating profit of £2.0 million ( 2019: 20.2 million loss) whilst the Product segment made a loss of £7.7 million ( 2019: £5.7 million profit)
– Capital expenditure decreased to £13.4 million (2019: £25.8 million) mainly reflecting the Windrush Court laboratory conversion and equipment purchases and leasehold improvements at Oxbox
– Cash of £46.7 million at 31 December 2020 (2019: £16.2 million) and £65.9 million at 31 March 2021
– Cash used in operations of £3.9 million in 2020 (2019: £6.6 million) decreased as a result of the increased revenues as explained above, offset by further operational investments required
– Successful £38.3 million (net) equity fundraise in June 2020 to exploit the growth in the cell and gene therapy market
1. Operating expenses is made up out of Bioprocessing expenses, Research and development expenses and Administrative expenses. A reconciliation to GAAP measures is provided on page 15.
2. Operating EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, Amortisation, revaluation of investments and assets at fair value through profit & loss, and Share Based Payments) is a non-GAAP measure often used as a surrogate for operational cash flow as it excludes from operating profit or loss all non-cash items, including the charge for share options. A reconciliation to GAAP measures is provided on page 16.
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Juno Therapeutics / Bristol Myers Squibb partnership
– New licence and five-year clinical supply agreement with Juno Therapeutics/Bristol Myers Squibb for multiple CAR-T and TCR-T programmes, signed in March. A £7.8 million ($10 million) upfront payment was recognised by the Group and up to $217 million could be paid in development, regulatory and sales related milestones in addition to undisclosed process development, scale up and batch revenues, and with an undisclosed royalty on sales
COVID-19 vaccine partnership with AstraZeneca
– The Group is a key manufacturer of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222. Having signed an initial agreement in May, in September the Group signed an 18-month supply agreement under a three-year master supply and development agreement for the large-scale manufacture of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The Group received a £15 million capacity reservation fee with additional revenue in excess of £35 million expected by the end of
2021
– By the fourth quarter, the Group was manufacturing the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in three suites at 1000L scale ahead of the MHRA granting emergency use for the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in December
Novartis partnership
– Collaboration with Novartis continued to strengthen with a sixth vector construct added in the first quarter of 2020, with partnership having been previously extended by five years in December 2019
– The roll out of Kymriah® continues to accelerate in relapsed and refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and relapsed and refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with reimbursement approved in 28 countries in at least one indication in over 300 qualified treatment centres
Other partnership updates
– In July, the Group signed a three-year clinical supply agreement with Sio Gene Therapies for the manufacture and supply of Parkinson’s disease gene therapy programme AXO-Lenti-PD, building on the worldwide licence agreement signed between the two companies in June 2018
– In August, the Group signed a development, manufacture and licence agreement with Beam Therapeutics for next generation CAR-T programmes including a three-year clinical supply agreement
– Post period end in March 2021, the Group announced that Sanofi had given notice that they intend to terminate the 2018 collaboration and licence agreement for the process development and manufacturing of lentiviral vectors to treat haemophilia. The Group expects the impact on revenue will be negligible over the coming 24 month period
– Post period end in April 2021, the Group signed a three-year development and supply agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim for the manufacture and supply of viral vectors, building on the partnership that started in 2018
Facilities and capacity expansion
– By October 2020, the MHRA had approved all four suites in the first phase of development of Oxbox, the Group’s new 84,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility. Three suites are producing the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at 1000L scale and one suite added to the existing capabilities of producing lentiviral vector-based products for the Group’s partners at 200L scale
– Building work at Windrush Court to convert office space into GMP laboratories progressed throughout the year, with the first of the laboratories completed by the end of 2020
– Opening of the new Corporate Head Office on new site within the Oxford Business Park
Corporate Governance and Organisational Progress
– In June, the Group welcomed Dr Roch Doliveux as Non-Executive Chairman, following the retirement of prior Chair, Dr. Lorenzo Tallarigo
– The Group has made significant strides forward in its commitment to best practice in Corporate Governance and diversification of talent on the Board. In November, Dr. Sam Rasty was appointed to the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Post period-end in February, the Group announced the appointment of Professor Dame Kay Davies as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Martin Diggle stepped down as a Non-Independent Director after nine years. Dr. Andrew Heath will not be standing for re-election at the 2021 AGM having served on the Board since 2010
