Investors

OptiBiotix Health plc (AIM: OPTI), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes, announces its results for the six months ended 31 May 2017.

This period reflects the transition of OptiBiotix from a research and development company to a commercial business with the appointment of a commercial team, product launches, and a number of sales agreements signed at the end of the period providing future revenue streams.

Highlights

• Joint product agreement signed with Tata Chemicals, one of India’s leading suppliers of food ingredients, to develop weight management products containing SlimBiome^® for the Indian market
• Key Board appointments in Per Rehne as Commercial Director and Christina Wood as Sales & Marketing Director to support the commercialisation and global expansion of OptiBiotix products
• Profit sharing agreement with Sacco S.r.l., one of Europe’s leading probiotic manufacturers, to manufacture and supply OptiBiotix’s cholesterol reducing strain, LPLDL^® in Europe
• First sales of LPLDL^® to HLH BioPharma Vertriebs GmbH, one of Europe’s leading suppliers of probiotics to the pharmacy market
• Launch of OptiBiotix’s SlimBiome^® and LPLDL^® products at the Vitafoods Europe tradeshow in Geneva in May 2017
• Non-exclusive agreement with Nutrilinea, one of Europe’s fastest growing providers of food supplements, for the production and commercialisation of products containing the LPLDL^® strain in Europe
• Admission of OptiBiotix’s majority owned skincare subsidiary, Skinbiotherapeutics (formerly SkinBiotix), to AIM with an associated £4.5m institutional and private client fundraise
• Profit after tax of £3.2m reflecting an adjustment of £4.1m for the change in value of the investment in Skinbiotherapeutics following the listing on AIM in April 2017

Post-period end highlights

• Supply agreement for LPLDL^® capsules with HLH Biopharma GmbH
• LPLDL^® supply agreement for New Zealand & Australia with Pharmabiota Ltd
• Successful human taste studies on SweetBiotix^® showing sweetness of between 140X and 223X that of sucrose at equivalent concentrations
• Global manufacturing and supply agreement with Sacco S.r.l.

Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix commented: “OptiBiotix has made significant progress in the last six months developing a pipeline of innovative products with a strong scientific and clinical evidence base. This has stimulated industry interest from both national and multinational companies in selling our products in both consumer health and pharmaceutical markets around the world. The microbiome has been described by commentators as healthcare’s ‘most promising and lucrative frontier’. As OptiBiotix’s microbiome modulating platforms generate products and multiple revenue streams from royalties and supply agreements there is potential for a significant enhancement in the value of the Company. Finally, we are pleased with the admission of Skinbiotherapeutics plc to AIM in April 2017, generating a £4.1m return on our initial investment. I would like to thank our investors for their support, and look forward to an exciting and rewarding rest of 2017.”

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).

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About OptiBiotix - www.optibiotix.com

OptiBiotix was formed in March 2012 to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome – the collective genome of the microbes in the body – to prevent and manage human disease.

The aim of OptiBiotix is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes. 

OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.