Agenix revises loss, details ThromboView plans

Brisbane's Agenix (ASX:AGX, NASDAQ:OTC:AGXLY) has forecast a lower full year loss for the year ended June 30 of between AUD$12.3 million and $12.8 million, compared with a $14.3 million loss last year.

This result includes net R&D expenditure of $6.8 million (including $6 million on the company's ThromboView blood clot diagnostic) as well as costs of business restructuring.

Also included in the loss is a $3 million pre-tax profit for the year from Agen Biomedical's human and animal health medical diagnostic businesses.

"The result is a mixture of continued success with our ThromboView Program and disappointing performance in the base business," said Agenix CEO Don Home in a statement.

Agenix had invested additional infrastructure and operational capacity in anticipation of being the second biggest distributor for the animal health product range in the United States. As that did not happen, the company restructured and 13 staff were made redundant.

"The restructure that we're making will save approximately $2 million associated with other programs which we concluded," Home told Australian Biotechnology News.

Home said that the savings would mean that Agenix' base business -- human and animal health diagnostics and the corporate office -- will return to profitability.

However, in the short term, the redundancies have cost the company $0.4 million and the company has experienced a $1 million loss from expensed investment in manufacturing and quality systems and a sale of assets at Agen Biomedical.

Agenix' forecast cash and unused bank facilities at June 30 are $8.6 million, lower than the predicted $9 million. However, this does not include proceeds from the sale of its property at Milton, in Queensland. "We already sold Milton, but we still own the facility -- the building and the land -- and we have a contract now a settlement due in a month or so," said Home. The property is to be sold for $1.85 million subject to the completion of final due diligence.

The full year results also include corporate overhead costs and interest of $4 million, a loss of $2.5 million from the recently sold Milton Pharmaceuticals business, and legal expenses of $0.3 million from the settled Synbiotics case.

ThromboView agreement

Agenix will also shortly enter into a manufacturing and technology transfer agreement with an FDA-approved commercial scale contract manufacturing company to manufacture the antibody fragment used in Agenix' blood clot diagnostics.

While Home would not reveal the manufacturer's name, he said that it was a global company with a product on the market. "It's going to the right company, that will ultimately be able to take the product forward, not only as far as our Phase III material but also ultimately the commercial scale material," said Home.

"We're making sure that this transfer occurs, so that scale-up can occur, so we can actually keep to our timeline and get this product on market as soon as possible."

Agenix also believes that it will complete a sales, marketing and distribution agreement for ThromboView by December 2005. "We've been in discussions with these partners now for several years, and bringing them along with us on the program, and we expect to have that concluded by the end of this year," said Home.

Agenix has also committed to developing a second product using the antibody fragment developed for ThromboView and a different imaging technique. The second product will be used to image arterial clots which are associated with heart attack and stroke.