MaxCyte revenues grow further despite Covid crisis
By Josh White
Date: Wednesday 15 Jul 2020
(Sharecast News) - Clinical-stage cell-based therapies company MaxCyte updated the market on its trading for the six months ended 30 June on Wednesday, saying first half revenues were expected to increase about 30% year-on-year to $10.9m (£8.63m).
The AIM-traded firm said that was an acceleration on the growth rate seen in the first half of 2019 and in spite of the impact of Covid-19 during the period, reflecting increased adoption and use of its products.
It noted that it closed a $30m financing in May , led by Casdin Capital with Sofinnova Partners, supporting its path to become dual-listed on Nasdaq, with filing expected during 2021.
During the first half and into July, MaxCyte said it advanced its partnerships in cell therapy with the addition of new agreements with cell therapy developers Allogene Therapeutics and Caribou Biosciences, and immunotherapy company Apeiron Biologics.
The aggregate potential milestone payments from those relationships, along with MaxCyte's previously-signed commercial agreements, were more than $800m.
With the expansion of the additional commercial licenses, the board said the company's licensed partnered programs now exceeded 120, with more than 90 licensed for clinical use.
MaxCyte added that its CARMA programme was now established as a wholly-owned subsidiary to facilitate independent investment and new partnerships, to advance the platform.
The company was progressing its work with life science strategic advisory and transaction firm Locust Walk on the capital acquisition process, with the board saying it expected CARMA Cell Therapies to be self-funded by the end of 2020.
In addition, clinical data from the first three cohorts of the ongoing phase 1 dose-escalation trial demonstrating safety of CARMA Cell Therapies' clinical candidate 'MCY-M11', and the feasibility of one-day manufacturing, were shared at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in late May.
MaxCyte described MCY-M11 as a non-viral mRNA-based cell therapy candidate manufactured using un-manipulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
As it previously said, dosing began in October in the third cohort in the phase 1 dose-escalation trial, with the board reportng no dose-limiting toxicities or related serious adverse events in the three completed cohorts.
A fourth dosing cohort began in March as expected, with CARMA developing MCY-M11 for the initial treatment of ovarian cancer and peritoneal mesothelioma.
It said it currently expected preliminary clinical data in the second half of 2020.
Finally, the company noted that in June it launched the first product in its new range of 'ExPERT' disposables.
The new R-1000 cuvette widened the range covered by its disposables with a processing volume of up to one millilitre, or up to 200 million cells, with the firm saying it provided increased versatility for companies developing cell therapy drugs, as well as those advancing early drug discovery.
It said the expansion provided additional growth opportunities by addressing a processing volume frequently requested by customers.
"We are pleased to have delivered positive momentum across all aspects of our business in the first half of 2020 and into July," said chief executive officer Doug Doerfler.
"We were delighted to expand our cell therapy partnerships with three industry- leaders as well as the continued clinical progress of the first CARMA therapeutic candidate, MCY-M11."
Doerfler said the company was "mindful" of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and was continuing to "work diligently" to mitigate any potential restrictions and delays in its operations.
"We remain confident in our prospects for long-term growth fuelled by our next-generation gene-editing enabling technology and a resilient business model."
MaxCyte said it was expecting to announce its interim results for the half-year ended 30 June during the week of 21 September.
At 1338 BST, shares in MaxCyte were up 8.6% at 240p.
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