Sensyne Health PLC (AIM:SENS) made strong progress in building a best-in-class, international database of ethically sourced, de-identified and anonymised patient data in the first half of its financial year.
In its interim results statement, the clinical artificial intelligence (AI) company said it has continued to build on the progress made in securing new strategic research agreements (SRA) from the UK National Health Service (NHS) and US health systems.
SRAs signed in the second half of calendar 2021 included one with the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust in September and another in December with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
In the USA, the group signed its first three SRAs with the US health systems St. Luke's University Health Network, the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine and with Sentara Healthcare in Virginia and North Carolina.
The agreement brings the total of accessible patients records to 48.3 million in the UK and US from Sensyne’s partnerships with health systems and forms the basis of the board’s confidence in the company’s long-term performance despite what the chief executive, Paul Drayson, conceded was a “challenging period that has tested the commitment and resilience of Sensyne, its staff and its stakeholders”.
Revenues declined to £1.0mln in the six months to the end of October from £2.3mln the year before.
Research & development expenditure rose to £10.7mln from £7.4mln the previous year, contributing to a widening of the underlying loss (EBITDA) to £14.7mln from the previous year’s loss of £9.5mln. The loss before tax deepened to £21.1mln from £13.8mln in the same period of 2020.
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of October stood at £8.1mln, down from £18.6mln a year earlier. Last week, the company raised up to £11.35 million comprising a first tranche of £6.35 million (and up to a further £5.0 million by mutual consent) through the issue of loan notes and warrants. Existing cash resources of £2.5 million as at 24 January 2022 have been strengthened following receipt of the first tranche loan proceeds of £5.95 million on 28 January 2022.
“By successfully developing and launching the SENSIGHT platform, we have continued to deliver for our customers and their patients, and strengthened the foundations for the future growth in revenues,” asserted company CEO Paul Drayson.
"We continue to believe that maintaining public trust in the use of patient data for medical research and pharmaceutical product development is crucial and that it depends upon transparency and fairness. Such use has the potential to save lives and reduce healthcare costs significantly. By sticking to our unique double-bottom line business model, working in partnership with the NHS and health systems in a transparent, ethical and fair way, Sensyne believes it is ideally placed to help realise the full potential of AI and Big Data to revolutionise healthcare and build a profitable and sustainable business in the long-term."