3rd Mar 2020 11:43
(Alliance News) - SkinBioTherapeutics PLC said Tuesday its loss widened in the first half of financial 2020 due to a sharp rise in research & development and operating expenses.
Shares in Macclesfield-based SkinBio were up 2.5% at 9.74 pence in London in late morning trade.
The skin health-focused life sciences company reported a pretax loss of GBP889,002 for the six months ended December 31, widened from a GBP632,279 loss the year before.
Operating expenses were the main driver of this loss, rising 81% to GBP433,950 from GBP240,372. However, research & development expense also played a role, rising 16% to GBP455,052 from GBP391,907.
No revenue was generated in either of financial periods, as SkinBio is still working to commercialise its products. This includes SkinBiotix, for which a human safety study for cosmetic application took place in early 2019 and "generated positive data".
As announced in November 2019, SkinBio has an agreement with Croda International PLC for the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of SkinBiotix technology. Any licensed products resulting from this agreement will be sold to Croda's portfolio of Personal Care customers.
"The company anticipates revenue generation to commence from these additional agreements during 2021," said SkinBio.
Another agreement was also signed in February with Winclove Probiotics BV, involving joint development of a probiotic food supplement, AxisBiotix, to improve psoriasis.
As at December 31, SkinBio had cash of GBP2.5 million, down from GBP3.1 million at the end of June 2019 and "in line with management's expectations".
Chief Executive Stuart Ashman said: "The first half of the year has been focused on refining and starting to deliver on our strategy to commercialise the SkinBiotix technology. The five pillars of the strategy comprise SkinBiotix, AxisBiotix, MediBiotix, CleanBiotix and PharmaBiotix demonstrating our belief in the applicability of our technology.
"From talks initiated by professor Cath O'Neill, we have concluded agreements around two of the pillars already - SkinBiotix and AxisBiotix - with Croda and Winclove respectively. Both companies are specialists in their fields and we believe both deals offer good growth and value opportunities to the company, whilst aligning with our current cash position and timeline.
"As we integrate these initial agreements into our day to day working practices, we continue to seek other commercial partners as well as furthering the scientific base behind our technology."
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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