Commercial momentum in ImmunoINSIGHTS

RNS Number : 7478U

Oncimmune Holdings PLC

07 December 2021

 

7 December 2021

Oncimmune Holdings plc

("Oncimmune" or the "Company")

Commercial momentum in ImmunoINSIGHTS

Significant Q2 FY2022 sales activity leading to signed contracts

Expansion of business development team in US and Europe

Oncimmune Holdings plc (AIM: ONC.L), the leading global immunodiagnostics group, today provides an update on commercial activity within its ImmunoINSIGHTS pharma services business.

As we highlighted in the full year results announcement released on 2 November 2021, the ImmunoINSIGHTS pharma services business has been benefiting from a ramp-up in commercial activity moving into Q2 FY2022. During this second quarter ended 30 November 2021, a number of contracts were signed for both new customers as well as for customers for whom we have already completed studies. As a result of this activity, the ImmunoINSIGHTS business has posted its biggest quarter by contract wins since the business was launched in February 2020.

Whilst respecting commercial confidentiality, summary details of a number of these ImmunoINSIGHTS contracts is provided as follows:

· a collaboration contract with a new large pharma partner headquartered in Germany, to characterise the Immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibody profiles of patients in clinical trials for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) [1] . The study will explore baseline autoantibody profiles as biomarkers of disease, adverse events and clinical response in patients. ImmunoINSIGHTS will use its proprietary NavigAID SLE panel to characterise autoantibody profiles from trial participants in a pilot project; and

· a contract with another new large pharma partner to characterise the autoantibody profiles of patients in clinical trials for SLE¹. In this new project, ImmunoINSIGHTS will use its proprietary SeroTag panel to characterise autoantibody profiles from trial participants. Following completion of this project, there will be further contracting opportunities for additional samples. One objective of this project includes better characterisation of the disease, where there is a high unmet need for an effective therapy

These and other large pharma contracts add to the stable of biotech contracts signed earlier in FY2021, under which work is currently being progressed in the ImmunoINSIGHTS facility in Dortmund, Germany. In addition to these recent contract wins, there are a number of further contracts which are expected to be signed this month, including a further contract with another existing large pharma partner. A further commercial update is expected to be issued before Christmas with details of these further contract wins. The servicing of these contracts has been made possible following further investment in equipment and personnel to scale up the Dortmund facility.

At the time of the equity fundraising in March 2021 to support this growth, the Company also identified the need to expand its sales and business presence in the US to meet the growing demand for commercial engagement from US-based pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The Company is therefore pleased to announce the appointment of Cameron Barnard to the position of Chief Business Officer. Cameron joined the Company in late August and is based in Boston, USA. Cameron has already made an immediate impact on contract wins as well as building the US-based commercial team using some of the proceeds from the equity raise.

Following a recent market analysis performed by an independent strategy consultancy, we are able to size the potential demand for the ImmunoINSIGHTS pharma services with greater accuracy. In order to capitalise on this demand, it is anticipated that the commercial team will be expanded to comprise multiple sales executives based in the US and a growing team of sales executives based in Europe. The appropriate sizing of these teams will be determined before the end of the current financial year. This significantly enlarged commercial team is expected to generate significant pipeline opportunities and sales momentum during FY2022 and beyond.

Cameron Barnard, Chief Business Officer of Oncimmune, said : " I am excited to have joined Oncimmune and lead a team that is quickly becoming the partner of choice and global leader in immunodiagnostics. Our ImmunoINSIGHTS platform has vast commercial potential with its robust technology, proven utility in support of critical clinical therapeutic development, and a highly experienced scientific team. The potential for ImmunoINSIGHTS has been validated by my network of commercial professionals and pharma and biotech contacts. I am in the process of building a world-class demand generation and conversion team to further capture the impressive commercial opportunity available to the Company. "

Dr Adam M Hill, CEO of Oncimmune, said:  "The commercial momentum we have experienced in Q2 FY2022 has not only resulted in contract wins but is expected to lead to further signed contracts in the coming weeks and, importantly, throughout Q3 FY2022 and beyond. Our key customers continue to provide follow-on contracts and our expanding commercial team is not only growing our commercial pipeline but also delivering a broadening and deepening of our customer relationships."

For further information:

Oncimmune Holdings plc

Dr Adam M Hill, Chief Executive Officer

Matthew Hall, Chief Financial Officer

[e-mail]

Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

Aubrey Powell, Harry Gooden, George Tzimas, James Fischer

[phone]

WG Partners (Joint Broker)

David Wilson, Nigel Barnes

[phone]

Media enquiries:

FTI Consulting

Ben Atwell, Michael Trace, Alex Davis

[e-mail]

[phone]

About Oncimmune

Oncimmune is a leading immunodiagnostics developer, primarily focused on the growing fields of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disease and infectious diseases. Oncimmune has a diversified and growing revenue both from its portfolio of diagnostic products to detect early-stage cancer and its contract discovery and development service business whose platform delivers actionable insights into therapies to the Company's pharmaceutical and biotech partners .

Our understanding of the immune system enables us to harness its sophisticated response to disease to detect cancer earlier and to support the development of better therapies. The key to improving cancer survival is early detection and better selection for therapy. As a company, we are driven by our passion to improve cancer survival and to give people extra time.

Oncimmune's ImmunoINSIGHTS platform enables life science organisations to optimise drug development and delivery, leading to more effectively targeted and safer treatments for patients. Oncimmune's immunodiagnostic technology, EarlyCDT, can detect and help identify cancer on average four years earlier than standard clinical diagnosis. Our lead diagnostic test, EarlyCDT Lung, targets a vast market estimated to grow to £3.8bn by 2024. With over 200,000 tests already performed for patients worldwide and its use being supported by peer reviewed data in over 12,000 patients, we are poised to become an integral component of future lung cancer detection programmes, globally.

Oncimmune's diagnostic products business is located at its laboratory facility in Nottingham, UK and its ImmunoINSIGHTS service business at its discovery research centre in Dortmund, Germany. The ImmunoINSIGHTS business development team are based in the US and Oncimmune is seeking to replicate the Dortmund facility in the US in the medium term.

For more information, visit  www.oncimmune.com

What is ImmunoINSIGHTS?

The ImmunoINSIGHTS service business leverages Oncimmune's technology platform and methodologies across multiple diseases, to offer life-science organisations actionable insights for therapies across the development and product lifecycle. Our core immune-profiling technology is underpinned by our library of over eight thousand immunogenic proteins, one of the largest of its kind. This helps identify trial participants and patients into clinically relevant subgroups, enabling development of targeted and more effective treatments.

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[1] SLE is a chronic, incurable autoimmune disease associated with multiple symptoms which can flare up over time. Diagnosis of SLE can be challenging.

 

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