Fusion Antibodies (AIM:FAB) told shareholders at its AGM on Thursday that unaudited revenue for the six months to 30 September fell to approximately £457,000, down from £838,000 in the same period last year, as difficult market conditions weighed on trading.
The Belfast-based contract research organisation, which provides antibody engineering services for therapeutic and diagnostic drug development, said gross margin for the period dropped to 10%, against 30% a year earlier, while cash at the half-year point stood at £135,000, down from £251,000 at the same point last year.
Chairman Simon Douglas said more than £100,000 of grant funding is due in the coming weeks, and that the board has implemented cost reduction measures, including a temporary recruitment freeze, while reviewing working capital requirements against the timing of its commercial pipeline.
The company's FY26 results, reported in September, showed full-year revenue of £2.11m, with cash of £1.04m at 31 March following a January placing that raised approximately £1.4m before expenses; Thursday's update shows that cash position has since fallen by more than £900,000.
Despite the revenue pressure, Douglas pointed to scientific progress on two fronts: the grant-funded DR5 therapeutic antibody programme with Queen's University Belfast, and the OptiMAL® antibody library platform.
The first in vivo study of the DR5 programme, conducted in mice implanted with human colorectal cancer cells, showed a significant reduction in tumour growth rate with two of four tested antibody formats, comparable to the positive control antibody conatumumab.
Fusion is now developing stable manufacturing cell lines for the two lead formats, in the final stages of development ahead of a planned second in vivo study, a dose-response experiment in a more representative human colorectal tumour model.
On OptiMAL®, which launched commercially in December following validation work with the US National Cancer Institute, Douglas said a further agreement to let the NCI continue using the platform as a front-line screening tool remains under negotiation.
"We are increasingly confident of a positive outcome in which the company would retain a commercial interest in OptiMAL® antibodies discovered by the NCI," Douglas said.
The company also confirmed further international patent protection for its antibody library technology, with grants in Japan in May and Canada in September, covering two antibody families and the library design method, alongside a notice of acceptance in Australia in August; these build on the US patent granted last year.
Douglas said the priorities for the second half are converting commercial opportunities into revenue, broadening customer engagement and building adoption of its proprietary technologies, following a recent update to the company's website.