Aptamer announces four significant new contracts

Life sciences company Aptamer Group announced a significant update on recent contract wins on Friday, totalling up to £0.51m over the next six months.

The AIM-traded firm said all four contracts, which were part of its previously-disclosed pipeline, related to the 2024 financial year and would make a substantial contribution to Aptamer’s revenue targets for the year ending 30 June next year.

However, it noted that the final revenue recognition would depend on the progression of those contracts.

The first contract was secured with a top 10 pharmaceutical company.

Aptamer said it would develop ‘Optimer’ binders to support a bioprocessing application, specifically in the purification of gene therapies.

The agreement also held the potential for additional downstream licensing revenue once the Optimer binders were successfully developed and validated by the customer.

In the second contract, Aptamer would be supporting a US-based gene therapy company in the field of neurodegenerative disease.

It would develop Optimer binders to facilitate accurate measurements of a disease biomarker in the company's research immunoassays.

By using the Optimer binders alongside an antibody in a sandwich pair format, Aptamer said the work aimed to advance neuroscience disease research.

The third contract focussed on a US-based genetic medicine company, where Aptamer would generate Optimer binders for two viral targets.

The binders would play a critical role as reagents in quality control (QC) assays for the batch release of new medicines.

Successful development of the Optimer binders could lead to further downstream licensing revenue if they were integrated into the company's processes.

Finally, Aptamer said it had signed a follow-on contract with a US-based vaccine development company.

Building on the positive results from a previous project, the company would develop Optimer binders to viral targets, aiming to enhance selectivity and enable multiplex analysis in QC assays.

Similar to the other contracts, Aptamer said it would have the opportunity for additional downstream licensing revenue on successful validation of the developed Optimer binders.

“As noted in the trading update issued on 4 July, the group's unaudited cash balance at the end of June was £0.2m,” the board said in its statement.

“In addition to trading income, further funding will be required in the short-term in order to continue as a going concern.”

Aptamer said the directors were “actively reviewing” all possible financing options “in the best interests” of the company and its shareholders, and were continuing to take steps to carefully manage working capital.

“Whilst the board is aiming for a satisfactory outcome of the financing, there can be no certainty that these discussions will be successful, nor as to the terms or timing thereof.”

At 1315 BST, shares in Aptamer Group were up 21.18% at 5.15p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.