REG - Aptamer Group PLC - New contracts with top ten pharma partners

AptamerAnnouncement

23/05/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5575P  Aptamer Group PLC  23 May 2024

     23 May 2024

 

Aptamer Group plc

("Aptamer", the "Company" or the "Group")

Aptamer Group signs new contracts with multiple top ten pharma partners

Agreements for Optimer development totalling up to £215,000

Three contracts with top ten pharmaceutical companies

First sale of Optimer(®)+ to a top 5 major pharma customer

Advanced stage sales pipeline grown to £3.2m

 

Aptamer Group plc (AIM: APTA), the developer of novel Optimer(®) binders to
enable innovation in the life sciences industry, is pleased to announce
further agreements for Optimer development with a combined value of up to
£275,000 including three of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies. Upon
development success, several of the partnerships include the potential for
additional follow-on fee-for-service development work and potential licencing.

 

These agreements represent the latest round of conversions from the Company's
expanded sales pipeline, which now totals £3.2m following the conversion of
both the recently announced contract with Timser Group and the deals announced
herein. This represents a conversion of circa 16% of the £3.9m pipeline the
Company started the week with (up from £3.0m stated in last week's trading
update). These converted sales have been passed to production, increasing the
current production pipeline value to £1.9m, which will be converted to
revenue in due course.  The Company anticipates further contracts, currently
in final negotiation stages, will close before the financial year's end. The
directors are encouraged by this increase in customer confidence and by the
recent rapid expansion of the pipeline, which the Company intends to
capitalise on over the coming months.

 

In relation to the three larger contracts, the first agreement with a top ten
pharmaceutical company will develop Optimer binders to improve the manufacture
of biologic drugs. The Optimer binders will enable improved drug purification
for the customer, preventing product loss. Upon success in this project, there
is potential for further downstream development contracts for Aptamer.

 

The second agreement with a top ten pharmaceutical company will develop a pair
of Optimer+ binders for use in a highly sensitive immunoassay platform. The
Optimer+ platform was selected due to its rapid development timeline. There is
potential for the binders to be used in a clinical trial, supporting further
use and follow-on contracts.

 

The third agreement with a top five pharmaceutical company will develop
Optimer binders to a known cancer target for use in flow cytometry assays.
This will support accurate pharmacokinetic analysis in drug development, where
other affinity ligands, such as antibodies, have failed to perform as
required.

 

Additional smaller contracts, which were secured with a value of up to
£60,000 (total £275,000). Some projects are expected to progress through the
laboratory by the end of the financial year, with others enhancing the
production pipeline for the following year.

 

 

Dr Arron Tolley, Chief Technical Officer of Aptamer Group, said: "I am pleased
to be able to announce new agreements with three of the top ten pharma
companies, further validating our platform technologies and their potential,
including increasing commercial interest in the Optimer + platform. In total,
we have agreed £275,000 of deals that we have aggregated in this
announcement, in addition to the partnership announced with Timser yesterday
and the strength we see in our pipeline.

With the sales pipeline expanding and converting, we are beginning to see our
strategy to build lower-risk fee-for-service revenues bear fruit. It is
important to clarify that contracts in the pharmaceutical industry often take
significant time to negotiate, frequently include confidentiality
restrictions, and sometimes do not meet the materiality threshold for
individual announcements.

An important part of our strategy includes horizon scanning for material
licence fee opportunities, and I am excited to share further information on
this in due course. These opportunities, of course, stem from our
fee-for-service work streams. We continue to make good progress with our
developed Optimer assets, with ongoing discussions around our drug delivery
vehicles for the liver. Additionally, our work with Unilever developing
Optimers in cosmetics applications continues to advance, alongside our
partnership with Neuro-Bio to deliver Optimer binders for use in a rapid
diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease."

- ENDS -

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 

 Aptamer Group plc                                            +44 (0) 1904 217 404

 Steve Hull
 SPARK Advisory Partners Limited - Nominated Adviser          +44 (0) 20 3368 3550

 Andrew Emmott / Adam Dawes
 Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited - Broker               +44 (0) 20 3657 0050

 James Pope / Andrew Thacker

 

About Aptamer Group plc

Aptamer Group develops custom affinity binders through its proprietary
Optimer(®) platform to enable new approaches in therapeutics, diagnostics,
and research applications. The Company strives to deliver transformational
solutions that meet the needs of life science researchers and developers.

Optimer binders are oligonucleotide affinity ligands that can function as an
antibody alternative. The global affinity ligand market is currently worth
over $170 billion.

Aptamer has successfully delivered projects for a range of global pharma
companies, diagnostic development companies, and research institutes, covering
multiple application areas with the objective of establishing royalty-bearing
licenses.

 

 

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