AcouSort AB - Interim Report for the period April– June 2023
Second quarter 2023 for the Group
Net sales amounted to SEK 1,816,000 (715,000)
Result before tax amounted to SEK -3,193,000 (-4,055,000)
Result per share* was SEK -0.24 (-0.31)
Equity ratio** amounted to 58% (88%) on June 30, 2023
Second quarter 2023 for the Parent company
Net sales amounted to SEK 1,816,000 (715,000)
Result before tax amounted to SEK -2,406,000 (-4,030,000)
Result per share* was SEK -0.18 (-0.31)
Equity ratio** amounted to 63% (88%) on June 30, 2023
Significant events during the second quarter
On April 3, AcouSort announces that the stem cell therapy project Blue4Therapy has been brought to a highly successful close.
On April 14, AcouSort announces that the Company has leased an AcouWash system to a Czech research group investigating fish sperm refinement.
On April 21, AcouSort announces that the Company for the third time has been selected by the EIC for participation in a leading medical exhibition.
On April 26, AcouSort announces that the prestigious US National Institute of Health (NIH) has ordered an AcouWash 2 system, thereby becoming a returning customer. In 2017, the NIH purchased the first AcouWash prototype for the cell wash process in a new monitoring method for cancer treatments.
On May 15, AcouSort announces that the Company expands its reach through a new collaboration with a leading Life Science company developing flow cytometers.
On May 22, AcouSort announces the launch of the next generation AcouTrap at CYTO 2023. The new AcouTrap 3 system comes with improved design and an updated and intuitive software graphical user interface. AcouSort also presents two new trapping units with improved performance.
On June 7, AcouSort announces that the Company has delivered a modified AcouWash 2 system to Lund University, where it will be used to separate circulating tumor cells from white blood cells.
On June 16, AcouSort announces the recruitment of Henrik Johansson as Director of Research and Technology.
Significant events after the end of the period
On July 5, AcouSort announces that the cell therapy collaboration with a leading global life science company continues to expand. The partnering company has ordered an evaluation setup with the aim to in more detail explore the robustness and adaptability of AcouSort’s AcouWash technology.
CEO COMMENTS
Strengthened positions across the board
AcouSort’s positive development continued in the second quarter of 2023 with strengthened positions in virtually all aspects of our business – diagnostics, cell therapy, and innovation. In the quarter we also saw the rise of potentially new areas of interest. Total income in the quarter amounted to SEK 3.36 (1.81) million. For the first six months of the year, total income amounted to SEK 7.21 (4.50) million, corresponding to a growth of 60%.
Diagnostics – successful collaborations
Successful collaboration with NIH. In the second quarter of 2023, the prestigious US National Institutes of Health (NIH) became a returning customer to AcouSort with an order for the new AcouWash 2 system. The NIH researchers are developing a novel monitoring method for cancer treatments where they successfully evaluated the AcouWash technology to replace the centrifugation steps required. To continue the work NIH has now purchased the AcouWash 2 system for further optimization of the new monitoring protocol. This sale generated revenues of USD 50,000.
Our successful collaboration with the American National Cancer Institute at NIH is extremely encouraging and marks an important step towards future integration of our technology in cancer treatment applications. It also validates our strategy to use benchtop systems as innovation platforms for customer projects.
Continued strategic collaboration with academia. In the quarter, we continued our successful collaboration with Lund University through an order for the development of a modified AcouWash 2 system, custom-designed for high performance separation of circulating tumor cells (CTC) from white blood cells. The project has generated revenues of SEK 500,000 in 2023. Partnering with academia is very important to AcouSort as collaborations with leading scientists pushes us to continuously expand the space of what our technology can achieve.
Cell therapy – expanding collaboration with a leading global life science company
In January, we reported that our collaboration with a global life science company active within cell therapy had been extended with a second phase. The second phase of the collaboration has now been brought to a successful close and the partnering company has ordered an evaluation setup to internally assess the robustness of our technology. The new activity will generate additional revenues of EUR 50,000 in 2023.
The continued collaboration is an important step towards the development of OEM components to the partnering company’s future cell therapy systems.
Innovation – successful project close and strengthened capabilities
Successful close of the project Blue4Therapy. The stem cell therapy project Blue4Therapy was brought to a successful close in the quarter. Behind the project were the University of Southern Denmark, BlueCell Therapeutics, Novozymes and AcouSort. Our contribution to the project has been to develop a module for the purification of stem cells in a point-of-care environment (POC). The project has now been successfully finalized and the applications and hardware that AcouSort has developed within the Blue4Therapy framework have significantly strengthened the company’s position within the cell therapy industry.
Strengthens its R&D capabilities. In the quarter, we strengthened our R&D capabilities through the recruitment of Henrik Johansson to the position as Director of Research and Technology. Henrik has significant experience from startup environment within the biotech space as well as from R&D management roles at Agilent and PerkinElmer. Going forward, he will play a key role in the further development of AcouSort’s technology portfolio.
Expanding the AcouSort reach
Our current focus lies on the diagnostics and cell therapy markets, but our unique technology is finding its way into an increasing number of applications. One example of this is a new collaboration with a leading life science company developing flow cytometers, a technology that rapidly characterizes cells or particles, and which is used in immunological research and to help diagnose diseases. The joint project established in the second quarter will evaluate the AcouWash’s ability to automate and improve sample preparation and sample clean-up prior to flow cytometry analysis. The new collaboration comprises the lease of an AcouWash system as well as an application support package. The flow cytometry project is very important for AcouSort as it has the potential to validate our technology in a new and important area for the company.
Another example of our expansion into new areas is our collaboration with a Czech research group that sees novel opportunities for AcouWash in fish sperm refinement. The Czech research group began using our AcouWash technology in 2021. In the second quarter of this year, the Czech group leased an AcouWash to finalize their work.
Intense commercial activities
The second quarter was also intense from a commercial point of view with one product launch, participation in two congresses, and a marketing visit to Japan. All these activities generated a number of interesting leads that we currently are following up on.
Launch of the next generation AcouTrap. In May, we launched the next generation AcouTrap at CYTO 2023. CYTO is organized by the International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry and attended by leading researchers and instrumentation providers within flow cytometry.
The new AcouTrap 3 system comes with improved design and an updated and intuitive software graphical user interface (GUI), which simplifies user workflows.
BIO 2023 in Boston. In June, we participated in BIO 2023 in Boston as part of the European Pavilion since we for a third time had been selected by the EU for full sponsorship. During the convention, we mainly focused on partnering and 1-on-1 meetings, discussing future OEM solutions within both point-of-care diagnostics and cell therapy applications.
Torsten Freltoft – CEO
ACOUSORT AB
The report is attached below and can also be found at https://acousort.com/investor/financial-reports/
For further information on AcouSort, please contact:
Torsten Freltoft, CEO
Telephone: +45 2045 0854
E-mail: [email protected]
About AcouSort
AcouSort AB (corporate registration number 556824-1037) is an innovative technology company focusing on developing products and solutions for integrated preparation of biological samples. With the help of sound waves, the company's products can separate blood cells, concentrate, purify and stain cells, exosomes and bacteria from biological samples. The technology of the company's products is acoustofluidics, where sound waves and microfluidics enable automated handling of samples in a range of application areas, from research on new biomarkers to the development of new diagnostic systems for near-patient testing – so-called Point-of Care (POC) systems. The company's commercialization strategy is based on the already proven business model of providing separation modules to diagnostic system manufacturers for integrated sample preparation as well as to continue the commercialization of the company's research instruments. With the help of the company's products and development of point-of-care tests, new diagnostic systems and treatments are enabled, addressing some of the most challenging disease areas of our time: cancer, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases. AcouSort is listed at Nasdaq First North Growth Market. The company’s Certified Adviser is Erik Penser Bank.
