BioDiem revenue up, loss under $100,000

Milestone payments from partner Nobilon led to Melbourne's BioDiem (ASX:BDM) posting strong results for the half year ending December 31, 2005 with revenue up 88 per cent to $2.9 million and a loss of only $96,000 compared with the previous corresponding half.

"We've virtually broken even for the half year, which is a fairly rare event for biotech companies in Australia," said BioDiem's CEO Tom Williams.

BioDiem's loss dropped from $1.5 million in the first half of 2004/05 financial year because of an increase in revenue from milestone payments from the company's flu vaccine partner Nobilon, said Williams.

"We don't expect to repeat that in the next half because milestone payments were a bit lumpy," said Williams.

The company's operating expenses decreased by $179,422 from the previous corresponding half to about $3 million. "The operating expenses included licensing expenses, which were down a little bit relative to the corresponding half year when we had a larger lump sum associated with acquiring the rights to the eye compound BDM-E," said Williams.

However, the company's R&D expenses rose slightly from $1.45 million in the previous corresponding half to $1.47 million.

The company had cash reserves of just under $6 million at December 31, 2005, down from $8.1 million at December 31, 2004. "That's certainly sufficient to take us through this calendar year," said Williams. "We'll review our situation as we go forward based on needs for the R&D and also on expectations of further milestone payments."

BioDiem's results also included a $2.15 million AusIndustry Commercial Ready Grant to develop its poultry feed additive BDM-I.

Diabetic eye disease trial

Meanwhile, BioDiem also announced that it has commenced recruitment for a phase I/II clinical trial of its peptide BDM-E in patients with diabetic eye disease.

"It's another milestone in the development of the trial," said Williams.

The trial will include 192 patients at 8 centres in St Petersburg and Moscow, with recruitment expected to be completed in June and preliminary results available by the end of the year.

BioDiem's shares were trading at $0.73, down 2 cents