ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY) said it sees significant expansion opportunities for its pharma services operation, which has the potential to bring in near-term revenues in the large cancer drug trials market.
The company's liquid biopsy system, known as Parsortix, is designed to detect circulating tumour cells and has gained clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), allowing ANGLE to work with major drug companies on projects.
According to the group, the current difficult market conditions have delayed the completion of some of these new opportunities.
That said, ANGLE reported a high level of repeat business with existing customers and a positive outlook for rapid growth in this area.
"ANGLE has the resources in place to deliver on its strategic and commercial plans and starts the new year cautiously optimistic despite the challenging market," said chief executive Andrew Newland.
Wide-ranging announcement
The company provided the update in a wide-ranging stock market announcement outlining its financial, operational and scientific progress in 2022 and assessing the outlook for 2023.
The update also provided a more detailed analysis of the company’s plans to extend its cash runway into the second half of next year.
ANGLE told investors the previously-announced plans to exit Canada allied to a streamlining of its other operations would garner cost savings of £2.6mln this year, rising to £4mln thereafter.
The move will result in £1mln of non-cash write-offs and £1mln in closure costs.
As of the year-end, the group was sitting on a very healthy £32mln of cash with no debt.
Progress continues
Turning to the company’s ongoing operations, ANGLE has been working to achieve regulatory accreditation for its clinical laboratories in the US and the UK.
The company has now received ISO 15189 Accreditation for its US laboratory, with the same expected for the UK laboratory shortly.
In addition to these developments, ANGLE is in discussions with “potential parties” regarding the development of an assay for HER-2 analysis in breast cancer.
This focus has increased with the recent approval of drugs for "HER-2 low" status.
The company said it is also evaluating the performance of its Parsortix samples in combination with third-party DNA and RNA sequencing technologies, with initial results said to be highly encouraging.
This could lead to partnering discussions with these technology providers, who are looking to add "content" to their product menus.
Increasing adoption
To increase the adoption of its technology, ANGLE has been developing a suite of imaging and molecular assays, known as Portrait+ and Landscape+, to analyse cancer cells harvested by the Parsortix system.
These assays will be used to build a menu for ANGLE's pharma services customers and to support adoption by adding "content".
The company has also expanded its commercial operations team and established a network of oncology-focused distribution partners in Europe, the Middle East, China, India and New Zealand.
In a separate announcement, ANGLE said it had appointed M&A expert Juliet Thompson as a non-executive director.
She has helped raise US$4bn and previously worked with WestLB Panmure and Stifel Europe.