Oxford Biomedica posts good growth, notes pause in vaccine making

Oxford Biomedica reported a 63% improvement in total revenues in its preliminary results on Wednesday, to £142.8m, although its outlook was somewhat less rosy amid a pause in vaccine manufacturing.

The FTSE 250 cell and gene therapy company said revenues from bioprocessing and commercial development continued their upward trend, growing 87% over the 12 months ended 31 December.

It put that growth down to large-scale commercial manufacture of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

Revenues from milestones, licences and royalties, which included recognition of the £4m licence fee from Boehringer Ingelheim, decreased 25% to £14.4m.

The board noted that in 2020, a licence fee from Bristol-Myers Squibb subsidiary Juno Therapeutics of £7.8m was recognised.

Operating EBITDA and operating profits improved by £28.5m and £26.5m, respectively, with the group generating an operating EBITDA profit of £35.9m and an operating profit of £20.8m.

The firm’s platform division made an operating EBITDA profit of £45.3m and an operating profit of £31.4m, while the product division made an operating EBITDA loss of £9.4m and an operating loss of £10.6m.

Cash generated from operations totalled £24.5m in 2021, swinging from £3.9m used in operations in 2020, as a result of vaccine manufacture for AstraZeneca, offset by further operational investments required.

Gross proceeds of £50m were raised through a placing with Serum Life Sciences in September, the company noted, to develop the fallow area of the Oxbox manufacturing facility.

Cash at year-end on 31 December totalled £108.9m, and £144m on 31 March.

Looking ahead, Oxford Biomedica said total revenues in 2022 were expected to be lower than 2021, but significantly ahead of 2020, due to a pause in vaccine manufacturing activity while discussions with AstraZeneca continued on a potential extension of the supply agreement.

It said Oxford Biomedica Solutions would contribute revenues of at least $25m for the first 12 months after deal completion in March 2022, from its multi-year supply agreement with Homology Medicines.

With Oxford Biomedica Solutions’ full-scope AAV manufacturing and innovation business currently operating at about one-third of its overall capacity, the group said it was committed to securing new AAV customer partnerships within the first 12 months of operation.

The group said it expected to be loss-making on an operating EBITDA level in 2022, after consolidation of Oxford Biomedica Solutions.

That would be driven by one-off costs for integrating the new business, as well as research and development costs, which were targeted to be higher than in 2021 as the group invested in innovation.

Capital expenditure was targeted to be higher than 2021, although the firm said it intended to implement a “cautious strategy” when planning significant new projects.

“I am delighted with our performance in 2021 which was a true testament to the hard work of all our employees,” said chair and interim chief executive officer Dr Roch Doliveux.

“2021 financial performance was exceptional due to large-scale manufacture of the adenovirus-based Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, and we have successfully manufactured over 100 million doses since the partnership began.

“During the year we also built on our existing partnerships, including with Boehringer Ingelheim, as well as signed two new partnerships with innovative biotech companies, Immatics and Arcellx.”

Dr Doliveux said 2022 would be “another important year”, as the company executed on its strategy to become a “global viral vector leader”, providing “life-changing therapies” and vaccines to patients.

“With the outsourced vector manufacturing supply market growing rapidly, we see significant potential to build upon our success with lentiviral vectors and expand the scope of our innovative process development and manufacturing to all classes of viral vectors.

“Our recently launched Boston, US-based adeno-associated virus (AAV) manufacturing and innovation business, brings a fully established and operating 'plug and play' platform, four patent families, and the full breadth of AAV capabilities and capacity into Oxford Biomedica.

“This lays the foundation to increase our presence in the strategically important US market and build our global footprint.”

At 0853 BST, shares in Oxford Biomedica were down 5.84% at 601.68p.