Oncimmune in global expansion

In January 2018, after the reporting period, a deal was signed with Chinese organisation Genostics. This grants Genostics an exclusive licence for Oncimmune’s ‘EarlyCDT’ cancer diagnostics technology in China – subject to a trial and regulatory approval, which could take 36 months. In return, Oncimmune gains a £10m equity investment, with minimum royalty payments of £15.7m for the first six years after the product enters the market.  

The EarlyCDT also continues to be trialed in 12,210 smokers (who have a high risk of contracting lung cancer) by NHS Scotland, with results expected in 2019. Interim data confirmed that the platform has the capacity to detect problems far sooner than traditional methods, as over 75 per cent of patients being diagnosed had early-stage cancers.

Trials are also underway in the US where the group's first distribution partnership is testing the platform's capacity to detect 'indeterminate lung nodule' – small tumours that could become cancerous. The market opportunity here is large as over 1.5m US patients are diagnosed with a nodule every year. Oncimmune already has a salesforce in the US which is expected to start generating revenue during the 2019 financial year. 

Bryan Garnier forecasts operating losses of £6.8m for the year to May 2018: a widening of the £5.3m losses seen in FY2017.