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Avacta Group

  • BY: Andrew Hore |
  • POSTED: 24/08/2012 |

Diagnostic technology developer Avacta Group says there was a year-on-year increase in sales of its Optim instrument of more than 50% but it still fell short of Avacta’s target of 25 for the year to July 2012.

The Optim bench top instrument analyses a range of biological samples and can be used by pharma companies to make a decision about which drug candidates have the best chances of success. There were 14 Optims sold in 2010-11, suggesting that 22 were sold in 2011-12, although no figure was put on it in the announcement. The instrument is being re-engineered in order to improve margins. Consumables revenues are also growing.

There have been delays in deliveries of the AX1 animal diagnostic instrument. There were no deliveries in the year to July 2012. The number of tests available for the AX1 is being increased.

Last year, Avacta acquired Aptuscan for £1.48m in shares. Aptuscan, like Avacta’s core business, came out of Leeds University and it develops non-antibody affinity protein reagents. This enables Avacta to enter the protein microarrays market for high throughput drug/biomarker discovery and new applications for companion health diagnostics. These microarrays can be used to test whether an individual will benefit from particular drugs. Avacta has 17,000 Affimer arrays and is investing in a further 100,000. Currently antibodies are used in this area but the Affimer arrays can be developed more quickly and cheaper, as well as providing scope for a wider range of tests. They are also more robust.

This is a market estimated to be growing at 20% plus a year and it is currently worth nearly $600m. An automated production facility has been set up. The first microarray will be available for validation by the end of July 2013.

Avacta’s revenues increased 72% to £1.72m in the six months to January 2012. Laboratory services revenues were flat and most of the growth came from Optim sales. The underlying loss fell from £537,000 to £378,000.

There was £5.81m of cash in the balance sheet at the end of January 2012 and this will finance the development of protein reagents and cover working capital needs.

The full year figures will be published on 30 October.

At 0.76p a share, Avacta is valued at £23.8m.

Download the latest AIM Journal from http://www.hubinvest.com/AIMPDFAugust2012_35.pdf

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