Fusion Antibodies performing in line in year-to-date

Antibody discovery, engineering and supply company Fusion Antibodies said on Friday that revenue growth in the current year had been consistent year-on-year, and in line with its expectations.

The AIM-traded firm, which was holding its annual general meeting, said customer enquiries for all of its services was “robust”, with the ‘OptiMAS’ platform described as a “key element” in securing new business.

Board chair Simon Douglas said that so far in the current financial year, Fusion had received a £0.15m milestone payment as a result of a humanised antibody project, which was successfully commercialised by an unnamed key client.

“This was the first such payment received by the company, and is in line with our strategic objectives of unlocking the intrinsic value that our service offerings represent to our clients,” he said.

“As at 31 March, the company had an interest in 15 client projects, six with fixed success payments and nine royalty agreements, and we will seek to add more such arrangements in the future when warranted by the company's contribution to a client project.”

Douglas noted that in August, the firm entered into a commercial collaboration agreement with Eurofins Discovery, a provider of products and services to the drug discovery industry.

“Pursuant to the collaboration, Fusion will provide comprehensive pre-clinical antibody development services from discovery, engineering, and critical reagent supply to Eurofins and onwards to their customers,” he explained.

“The company's commitment to new research and development projects was maintained for this period, and ‘OptiMAL’ -the mammalian antibody library discovery platform - remains on track to deliver initial revenues in 2022.”

At 1004 BST, shares in Fusion Antibodies were down 1.89% at 130p.