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Oxford BioDynamics PLC on Tuesday said it will need additional funding - either internal or external - by early 2023, as it posted a sharp drop in half-year revenue, sending its shares tumbling.
The Oxford, England-based biotechnology firm is focused on discovering and developing epigenetic biomarkers.
Providing an outlook, Oxford BioDynamics explained that, if a ‘reasonably likely 'downside scenario'’ occurred, it ‘would need either to generate increased revenue or to obtain additional funding, by the end of the first quarter of 2023’.
Shares fell 16% to 13.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
‘The group will need to generate increased revenue and/or additional funding during the remainder of the calendar year,’ said Chief Financial Officer Paul Stockdale. ‘As the remainder of the financial year progresses, the OBD team is therefore focused on growing orders for EpiSwitch CiRT and on generating revenue from pharma and other partners.’
Pretax loss in the half-year that ended March 31 narrowed slightly to £3.4 million from £3.5 million a year ago. Revenue remained insubstantial, falling sharply to £85,000 from £250,000. Staff costs rose to £2.1 million from £1.9 million, though research & development costs fell to £191,000 from £601,000.
Chief Executive Officer Jon Burrows said: ‘This was another significant period for OBD. We further cemented the group's fundamentals to focus on commercialisation, culminating with the successful launch of our flagship EpiSwitch CiRT test in February 2022.’
Brian White, analyst from Shore Capital Markets Ltd, cautioned: ‘These remain early days for such a potentially transformational change with the companys flagship EpiSwitch CiRT only recently introduced (February 2022) to the key US market and as recently as June in the UK.
‘As a result, financial performance during the period remained modest during the interim period. If successful, we expect the company to roll out additional commercial tests in future, offering the prospects of a growing franchise and operating leverage.’
The EpiSwitch CiRT blood test predicts a patient's likely response to immune checkpoint inhibitor, or ICI, therapies, with high levels of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and negative predictive value across 15 cancer indications where ICI treatments are approved. It provides an alternative to the more invasive biopsy option, and helps physicians to consider treatment options for the patient. The test has been available online since last Tuesday.
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