BTG promises profit by 2006

TECHNOLOGY transfer group BTG said today it should reach profit within two years and insisted it still remains committed to commercialising its varicose veins treatment Varisolve.

But the remarks had little effect in the City where enthusiasm for the company has waned following a share price crash late last year after the suspension of Varisolve's clinical trials in the US.

The drug was seen as a hugely significant product and the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to curtail Varisolve‘s trials amid fears about the potential risk of embolism in patients was a disaster for the stock.

BTG shares are now trading around 110p, well adrift of the high mark of 438p achieved in late 2003.

Chief executive Ian Harvey said that BTG‘s profitability does not now depend on commercialising Varisolve and that the company is focusing on licensing revenues from other products.

The company has reformulated Varisolve in line with FDA requirements and is now pursuing several additional trials of the drug. A fresh FDA application is likely by October, Harvey added, but it will still take at least a year to complete the latest studies. A market launch in the US is unlikely before 2009, the company admitted.

BTG today unveiled a substantial rise in revenues from £31.5m to £52.9m with pre-tax losses reduced by 37% from £36.2m to £22.8m. Harvey said the company had net cash at the year end of £66.3m.

BTG, which specialises in bridging the gap between academia and the commercial sector, said it had formally assessed about 350 of more than 700 technologies offered to the company during the year and had acquired 34 of them.

A total of 39 new development projects were authorised with a financial commitment of £10.9m. A further 17 new licence agreements were signed during the year although the total number of licences under management fell from 220 to 210.

Harvey said the company had taken a hard look at existing investments and several agreements that no longer generated adequate returns had been terminated during the year.

BTG‘s technology interests span medical science, telecoms technologies, semi-conductors and nanotechnology.