IXICO PLC (LON:IXI) has signed a “substantial new contract” for a late-phase open label study into Huntington’s disease (HD) carrying a value of £10.5mln.
The neuroscience data analytics firm said the four-year contract will run to 2024, with the majority of revenues expected to be generated in 2022 and 2023, bringing the total value of new deals signed in its current financial year-to-date to £15mln.
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The study has an estimated 1000 subjects in Europe, North American and Asia and is currently expected to begin enrolment in the summer of 2020.
“The new HD contract highlights how the pharmaceutical industry is continuing to support studies where patients face life-limiting conditions, particularly where discontinuing treatment would risk the patient's long-term well-being”, said IXICO chief executive Giulio Cerroni in a statement.
Meanwhile, the company said it expects to report revenue growth of “at least 25%” year-on-year in the six months ended 31 March.
IXICO added that while clinical trial operations had been affected by travel restrictions and social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, its “strong order book and operational improvements” implemented before the outbreak meant it has a “significant backlog of image analysis and other revenue-generating project requirements for short-term completion and delivery” that did not require travel to sites to complete.
Looking ahead, the firm said its expected a slowdown in revenues in the second half of the current year as ongoing work on clinical trial projects was deferred and new projects delayed by its pharmaceutical sponsors, however, it expected and deferred activity to be “reactivated” in future periods, allowing it to recoup associated revenue.
“By continuing to carefully manage its expenditure and with the benefit of a strong, debt-free balance sheet and robust order book, IXICO is well-placed to face the anticipated impacts of the [coronavirus] pandemic," the company said, adding that it while it had “increased confidence” for revenue growth in the medium and long-term, it was unable to provide clarity on its 2020 outlook due to “uncertainty around the level and duration of disruption” caused by the pandemic.
"Whilst implementing the necessary response to mitigate an anticipated near-term slowdown in revenues and a constraint on market development opportunities, we will continue to make our technology-enabled services as efficient and agile as possible. We plan to be 'start-up ready' when clients re-initiate studies that have been suspended or slowed down and, despite these extraordinary times, we face the future with cautious confidence", Cerroni said.
In a note, analysts at Cenkos Securities said they thought the company was in a “robust position despite the current environment” and its long-term prospects “remain strong”.
Cenkos added that the £10.5mln contract win was “evidence of IXICO’s ability to operate and win new business” amidst the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
The shares were up 9% at 70.9p in early afternoon trading on Tuesday.
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