Last close As at 05/08/2026
USD5.00
▲ −1.80 (−26.47%)
Market capitalisation
USD62m
Research: Healthcare
OpGen’s subsidiary, Ares Genetics, has signed a research collaboration agreement with the Belgian National Reference Center (BNRC) for invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae at the university hospital Leuven. Under the agreement, the partners will evaluate the utility of Ares Genetics’ next-generation sequencing platform, machine learning tools and bioinformatics to identify and characterize Streptococcus pneumoniae for diagnostic purposes. This agreement marks Ares Genetics’ second collaboration with a reference lab following its 2021 agreement with an unnamed US contract research organization and reference lab.
Written by
OpGen |
Another collaboration agreement for Ares Genetics |
Collaboration update |
Pharma and biotech |
27 July 2022 |
Share price performance
Business description
Analysts
OpGen is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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OpGen’s subsidiary, Ares Genetics, has signed a research collaboration agreement with the Belgian National Reference Center (BNRC) for invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae at the university hospital Leuven. Under the agreement, the partners will evaluate the utility of Ares Genetics’ next-generation sequencing platform, machine learning tools and bioinformatics to identify and characterize Streptococcus pneumoniae for diagnostic purposes. This agreement marks Ares Genetics’ second collaboration with a reference lab following its 2021 agreement with an unnamed US contract research organization and reference lab.
Year end |
Revenue ($m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/20 |
4.2 |
(24.7) |
(1.57) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/21 |
4.3 |
(35.7) |
(1.17) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/22e |
5.0 |
(22.8) |
(0.49) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/23e |
8.1 |
(19.0) |
(0.41) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
As part of the agreement with the BNRC, Ares Genetics will leverage its antimicrobial resistance (AMR) database, ARESdb (c 80,000 datasets at the end of 2021), in combination with artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop predictive models for antibiotic susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae using whole genome sequencing-based antibiotic susceptibility testing. The company will also deploy its cloud-based bioinformatics tool AREScloud at the BNRC to support pathogen typing, AMR characterization and outbreak analysis. The US Center of Disease Control has classified drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae as a serious antimicrobial resistance threat. We also note that AMR has been declared one of the top 10 global public threats by the World Health Organization and resulted in c 1.2 million deaths globally in 2019, reflecting the high unmet need for effective diagnostics.
The collaboration is expected to also help Ares Genetics enrich its ARESdb database with key pathogen data procured from the BNRC, which in turn could help the company develop more robust predictive models. ARESdb is central to the applicability and utility of Ares Genetics’ suite of products but, as an added benefit, could also be monetized independently. As a reminder, in November 2021, Ares Genetics signed a deal with an undisclosed in vitro diagnostics player for non-exclusive access to 1.1% of ARESdb’s dataset for a consideration in excess of $600,000.
This development comes at an important stage for OpGen, with the company seeking to expand its Ares Genetics suite of products and increasingly commercialize it in the near to medium term. Recent endeavours include extension of its master services agreement with Sandoz and the launch of new sequencing and analysis services such as ARESid and ARESiss Express in Q122.
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Research: Healthcare
Diurnal announced a trading update for the 12-month period ending June 2022, reporting top-line results broadly in line with consensus estimates. While total revenue grew by 7.1% y-o-y (to £4.7m), core product sales improved 104% y-o-y to £4.62m (£2.27m in FY21). Licensing revenue was a modest £0.06m versus £2.1m in FY21 (comprising upfront and milestone payments from Citrine Medicine for China). Product sales momentum was supported by a 60.8% growth in Alkindi during the period as well as the first revenue contribution from Efmody in Germany (£0.97m) following pricing approval in September 2021. Detailed results are expected in September 2022 (alongside a planned R&D day), pending which our estimates remain under review.