Oxford Biomedica’s (OXB) LentiVector technology underpins the company’s strategy. OXB generates significant revenue from partners that utilise its technology, notably Novartis, Bioverativ, Orchard Therapeutics and Immune Design. OXB is in partnering discussions about internally developed assets.
Investment summary
Oxford BioMedica’s (OXB’s) interim results were broadly in line with our expectations for 2019. The decrease in H119 revenues to £32.1m (-9%) largely reflects the exceptional performance in the previous period, which was bolstered by strong licence income (H119: £13.3m vs H118: £19.9m) primarily from upfront payments with the Axovant and Bioverativ deals signed (£18.5m combined). Importantly, in H119 bioprocessing revenues grew 23% to £18.8m, which we expect was driven by the continued uptake of Novartis’s CAR-T Kymriah. Typically, bioprocessing revenues are back-end loaded so a stronger performance can be expected in the second half of the year. With OXB transitioning one of its GMP suites across to bioreactor processing in H119 and its new OxBox bioprocessing facility expected to be fully operational in Q220, we expect this growth to continue in the near term. We retain our valuation of £649m.
Cell- and gene-therapy is the focus of much industry attention as it can dramatically alter the outcomes of many diseases. OXB’s proprietary lentivector platform has demonstrated promise in many indications.
