CATALIST-LISTED iX Biopharma $ IX Biopharma: 42C +11.98% has swung back into the black with a net profit of S$3.7 million for the first half of its fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2021, compared with a net loss of S$2.8 million the previous year.

 

The turnaround in profitability was driven by the out-licensing of Wafermine, its lead drug under development, to Seelos Therapeutics in November 2021, iX Biopharma said in a bourse filing on Friday (Feb 11).

 

This lifted the group' s revenue for H1 2022 to S$13.2 million, up from S$830,000 a year ago. On the back of higher revenue, the group recorded a gross profit of S$12.1 million versus a gross loss of S$160,000 in H1 2021.

 

Total expenses increased to S$6.9 million in H1 2022, compared with S$5.7 million a year ago. This was mainly due to expenses relating to the group' s out-licensing of Wafermine, which comprised a one-off expense of S$920,000 in legal and advisory fees as well as share-based compensation, and S$940,000 in financial advisor fees and other expenses.

 

Excluding this one-off expense, the group' s total expenses would have declined by S$690,000 compared with H1 2021.

 

Earnings per share stood at 0.49 Singapore cents for H1 2021, reversing a loss per share of 0.41 cents in the year before.

 

No dividend was declared for the half year, unchanged from a year ago, as iX Biopharma said it needs to conserve its cash reserve for the development and commercialisation of products.

 

In addition to receiving an upfront fee payment of S$1.6 million in January 2022 from its Wafermine licensing agreement, iX Biopharma said the partnership with Seelos Therapeutics could generate additional development and sales " milestone" payments of up to US$239 million and sales royalties for the group, moving forward.

 

Eddy Lee, chairman and chief executive of iX Biopharma, said the positive set of results marks a " significant inflection point" in the business. The out-licensing of Wafermine is a " validation" of the group' s business model in leveraging its WaferiX technology to repurpose existing approved drugs for new treatments, he added.

 

" This is really the start of an exciting phase, as we look forward to monetising other drugs in our pipeline in line with our business model."