BTG makes solid start to 2018 financial year

Investors in global specialist healthcare company BTG were preparing for the firm’s annual general meeting on Thursday morning, with chief executive Louise Makin confirming the group’s strong performance in the 2017 financial year had carried over into the start of the 2018 year.

The FTSE 250 company was on track to achieve double digit sales growth in the 12 months to 31 March 2018, Makin said in a statement, which was being driven by growth in its international medicine business.

“We reported positive outcomes from two EKOS clinical studies in the first quarter and we anticipate further progress across the portfolio over the full year, including reaching important milestones for ‘Varithena’ and the ‘PneumRx’ coils,” Makin said.

“We will continue to implement our growth strategy, to deliver double-digit annual product sales growth and margin expansion over time whilst investing selectively in innovation and development, commercial and geographic expansion and acquisitions to ensure sustainable long-term value creation.”

Trading since 1 April had been in line with the board's expectations, BTG reported, and guidance for the full year remained unchanged.

Its board said there were “strong performances” from its liver cancer treatment ‘TheraSphere’, and its blood clot treatment device ‘EKOS’.

‘Varithena’ reportedly continued to make progress ahead of the publication of new reimbursement codes expected towards the end of the year, and the antivenin ‘CroFab’ made a “good” start to the new snakebite season, with a “good performance” from ‘Voraxaze’, used to treat methotrexate toxicity in patients with impaired renal function.

“There was also good operating progress,” the board’s statement read.

“Positive data were reported from two clinical studies using ‘EKOS’.”

It said the OPTALYSE study demonstrated the safety and efficacy of shorter, lower-dose ‘EKOS’ therapy for pulmonary embolism, and the ACCESS PTS study demonstrated the safety and efficacy of an ‘EKOS’ therapy treatment regimen for post-thrombotic syndrome.

“A pilot study showed sustained quality of life at regular intervals throughout three months in patients treated with ‘TheraSphere’ using ‘IO Loop’ - a novel data collection tool that helps patients better engage in their own healthcare and measures quality of life and satisfaction rates across the course of their treatment.”

In June, the Society of Interventional Oncology and BTG announced their 2017 interventional oncology/immuno-oncology grant recipients.

BTG said the research grant programme funded initiatives that evaluated how interventional oncology therapies stimulate the immune system, and how they might combine with immunotherapy approaches to improve clinical outcomes.

“Work continues to progress the premarket approval application in the US for the ‘PneumRx’ coils, and in Europe coverage/reimbursement determinations continue in Germany and France,” the board added.