Sensyne Health PLC (AIM:SENS) said it is in detailed talks with “a number of parties” after putting itself up for sale in November.
The formal sale process (FSP) has involved discussions with other companies or investors and progress has been made on both management buy-out (MBO) and non-MBO options, a statement said. The board stressed there was no certainty any offer would be made.
Meanwhile, the clinical artificial intelligence company said it "made strong progress" in the first half of its financial year to 31 October 2021 and it now has more than 75 "opportunities in the pipeline" compared with 25 in October. Pandemic-related delays however are slowing the conversion of pipeline opportunities into commercial agreements.
With the three deals announced in the past month and a half, namely a research deal with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, plus strategic partnerships with Exscientia and RwHealth, the company now has 16 research agreements with NHS Trusts and US healthcare health systems and a database of 48.3mln anonymised patient records.
Pipeline opportunities include half of the top 10 pharma companies, along with all current and former customers and diverse smaller potential customers from the US, Europe and Asia, spanning end uses from drug discovery through to clinical development to post-marketing surveillance.
However, the company said it has “faced significant commercial headwinds including contract delays as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact pharma companies, changing priorities and increased competition. These factors are slowing the conversion of this strengthened pipeline into commercial agreements”.
With a cash position was £2.8mln as of 12 January and a substantial debtor being pursued for monies due under contract, Sensyne said it signed a non-binding agreement with a number of its institutional shareholders to provide £6.35mln of funding via a loan note, with an additional £5mln to be provided by mutual consent.
The company said the board believes the financing “will proceed to completion in the near term, without it the company is unlikely to be able to continue to trade beyond early February 2022 by which time the FSP will not have concluded”.