BELFAST-based antibody developer Fusion Antibodies has reported a drop in sales and a widening of losses in the first six months of its trading year as it “re-positions the company’s service”.
The company, which specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, was reporting unaudited interim results for the six months to September 30 as well as providing an update on R&D projects as well as the development of an integrated therapeutic antibody services offering.
Most of its key FDIs were down over the period when compared with the first half of its last trading year, with revenues falling to £1.9 million from £2.4 million.
Losses widen from £0.6 million to £1.1 million and its cash position at September 30 was £1.2m (against £2m previously)
But expenditure on R&D at the company, which began life in the science labs at Queen's University, increased by 7 per cent to £0.45m (up from £0.42m).
Adrian Kinkaid, who was appointed as Fusion Antibodies' new chief executive in August this year, said: “We are re-positioning the company’s service offering to best serve our clients in therapeutic antibody drug discovery.
“Following the restructuring of our commercial team and once again attending in-person conferences, this is the right time to re-align our services with client needs.
“By integrating our current discovery, engineering and supply services into one integrated end-to-end service we aim to enhance the client journey with the development of high performing antibodies to their targets.
“The integrated approach has been trialled with an existing client with exceptionally good results and will be augmented by the new OptiMALTM mammalian display technology in due course.”
Mr Kinkaid added: “While this has been a challenging period, the board believes that we can deliver the second half performance necessary to continue to build shareholder value in the company.”
Fusion's statement to the Stock Market also alluded to the fact that a small number of projects had been delayed by clients as they seek further investment.