OptiBiotix Health PLC (AIM:OPTI) said the group was primed for a strong year – one in which the revenue generated by its first products to market will help provide the base for the next generation of pre’ and probiotics.
With £2mln banked from the sale of shares in former subsidiary SkinBioTherapeutics, the company will be investing in a new best-in-class sweetener, microbiome modulators to combat disease and two key range extensions as well as sales and marketing.
Three deals signed at the end of last year have the potential to positively shape 2022, investors were also told.
The Hut Group, the e-commerce giant, has launched LeanBiome; Apollo Hospitals will do the same thing with the GoFigure weight management products in the first half, as will Nahdi Medical, which will also sell the SlimBiome range.
“We believe new product launches in 2022, the extension of territories with existing partners, new product platforms, and the commercial realisation of our development pipeline, allow us to look forward with confidence to further commercial progress of the Group in the current year and beyond,” said chief executive Stephen O’Hara.
Read about the company’s plans to build on its commercial momentum
The company is a specialist in human microbiome health, the good bacteria mainly found in the gut.
It has developed weight management and health products and has even created a cholesterol buster that compares favourably with statins.
Product development has seen the company expand its first-generation range to include LeanBiome, while OptiBiotix has reformulated WellBiome, which was developed to support healthy ageing.
On SweetBiotix, its second-generation sweetener product, its unnamed partner in the US has successfully manufactured the product using an industrial scale process. It is now optimising yields and reducing wastage.
It said was working with a second business, described only ‘as one of the world's leading companies in taste and sweetness’, to jointly scale up and commercialise another group of SweetBiotix products.
“There is a good relationship with this partner and overlapping strategic intent to combine world-leading taste and sweetness expertise with OptiBiotix's prebiotic know-how and valued IP portfolio in the microbiome space. The Company believe that a deal is likely to be achieved,” investors were told.
Finally, the company is developing a range of modulators, which it believes can ‘precision engineer’ the human microbiome to treat a range of diseases.
With the benefit of increased investment, it is hoping to build on some early success in producing modulators at scale.
Work is ‘ongoing’ to optimise the process and test whether the functionality has been retained before initiating full scale-up and commercialisation, OptiBiotix said.
To read more about the company’s strategic plan click here