With our strong cash position, successful core products and exciting R&D pipeline, we look forward to the future with confidence
CEO Manuel Llobet
What the company does
As the name suggests, Allergy Therapeutics PLC (LON:AGY), which is headquartered in Worthing, West Sussex and employs around 500 people, develops inoculations against common allergies.
It has five products registered, as well as another five that are available on a named patient basis – this means they can only be prescribed by a doctor.
It has a strong presence in Europe, with established operations in Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, while in other markets, it often makes its products available through distribution partners.
Its Pollinex Quattro vaccine for the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) from grass, tree or ragweed pollen allergy is well-established in Europe.
The company has been pouring money into making injections rather than tablets. This has two major benefits, both of which are linked.
Firstly, injections tend to yield improved clinical results versus tablets.
And they are preferred by physicians in places such as the US and Germany – some of the largest markets in the world.
How’s the company doing?
Net profits in the year to June jumped to £7.1mln, up from £3.5mln a year earlier, though the increase was helped by a legal settlement worth £3.2mln the hay fever treatment specialist said.
Allergy had flagged already that revenues for the year had risen by 7% to £78.2mln. Sales in Germany, which accounts for 61% of revenues, rose by 8%, Spain by 10%, the Netherlands 22% and Switzerland 18%.
Bee sting treatment Venomil continued to grow very strongly, while hay fever products Pollinex and Pollinex Quattro achieved 'reasonable growth'
There was a 25% increase in pre-R&D operating profit to £14.2mln, it added, and the group had a cash balance at the year-end of £37mln.
In October, Allergy added that screening of the first patient in an exploratory field study of its short-course grass allergy inoculation had begun.
Its Grass MATA MPL treatment has been designed as an aluminium-free, allergen-specific immunotherapy to address the cause of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis due to grass pollen.
The field study is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical assessment of 150 patients over 12 sites in Germany and the US.
What the boss says: Manuel Llobet, chief executive
"This exploratory grass trial will drive study design innovation in the allergy field and is an important intermediate step for the optimisation of our upcoming pivotal phase III grass field trial, which will maximise the chances of success and entry into the US market.
“Parts of this protocol are ground-breaking and have the potential to significantly enhance science in this area."