The cell engineering group MaxCyte Inc (LON:MXCT, MXCL, MXCN) emerged from 2020 in rude financial health.
The company, which runs a hybrid business, supplies some of the big wheels of drug development with its technological know-how.
Its IP is also baked into new potential products, for which it receives staged progress-related payments. Pre-commercial 'milestones' from these alliances now total US$950mln.
In the 12 months to December 31, MaxCyte’s revenues grew by a better than expected 21% to US$26.2mln, buoyed by an increase in instrument leases and sales of disposables as well as a rise in payments from partners.
Underlying earnings (EBIDTA), meanwhile, grew by more than 120% in the period to US$2.9mln before the investment costs of the CARMA business were factored in.
MaxCyte said earlier this year is now focusing on out-licensing the CARMA platform manufacturing processes, pre-clinical and clinical data, and intellectual property.
It is also continuing with efforts to make new introductions for potential CARMA partnerships “without further clinical or pre-clinical investment”.
Last year, a total of US$11.1mln was invested in this part of the business.
Financially, the group ended 2020 on a very sound financial footing with US$34.8mln in the bank. It supplemented the existing cash in treasury with the US$55.3mln raised in February.
Chief executive Doug Doerfler called the results and operational performance “very impressive”.
“Importantly, we finished the year with revenues ahead of expectations: expanding our number of partnerships and establishing our largest pipeline of potential partnerships to date, which mirrors the industry's diverse cell therapy pipeline.
“Our continued steady growth is a testament to our team's innovative approach to serving partners and customers as well as the company's position as a leading provider of cell-engineering platform technologies for next-generation cell-based therapies.”