‘Significant momentum’ behind HealthBeacon as revenues surge

Digital therapeutics company HealthBeacon saw the business gather “significant momentum” in the first half of 2022, reporting an increase in revenues and an expansion of its client base in interim results published on Friday.

The Dublin-based company saw its revenue climb 57 per cent to €867,000 in the six months to the end of June from the same period last year.

However, gross profits at the company, which listed on the Euronext Growth Dublin last December, tumbled 72 per cent, from €313,000 in the six months to the end of June 2021 to €87,000, while the group’s gross profit margin narrowed from 57 per cent to 10 per cent in the first half.

Operating in 17 countries across Europe and North America, the Irish-headquartered company develops products for managing injectable medications for patients in the home. It deployed 10,206 units of its products in the first half of the year, an increase of 144 per cent from 4,182 in the six months to June 2021, and is targeting 100,000 units deployed by the end of 2023.

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HealthBeacon said that its margins decreased “due to an increase in data and connectivity costs. It reported an operating loss of €6.2 million in the first six months of 2022, partially due to rising wage and salary costs, including a non-cash share compensation expense of €1 million as the group increased its headcount from 53 in the first half of 2021 to 73 by the end of June this year.

The company also said that, having inked a multimillion euro deal last year with North American home appliances distributor Hamilton Beach, the roll-out of its direct-to-consumer partnership with the company had been “slower than anticipated”. It meant that HealthBeacon “generated revenue on the initial unit sale to Hamilton Beach and did not generate revenue from the sell-through to the end user”.

However, the Jim Joyce-helmed company said it still expects to grow tenfold by the end of 2024 and expects 15,000 units to be deployed by the end of 2022. HealthBeacon said it had placed build orders for 35,000 orders to meet anticipated demand from clients and managed to resolve a supply chain delay over the period related to microchip components.

“We generated significant momentum, despite some meaningful global supply chain challenges, adding important new clients, new products, key hires and expanding our capabilities, infrastructure and routes to market,” Mr Joyce said in a statement.

“The progress we have made to date, particularly in the speciality pharmacy services channel, has set the foundation for us to become market leaders and to provide a tenfold increase in the number of patients using our technology in 2024,” he said, adding that the company is “excited by the progression” the business has made since its listing last December.

In September, the company announced a commercial partnership with the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, a charitable foundation connected with the professional and advocacy body of the same name, to roll out its injection management care system to patients beginning this year.

Aimed at helping patients to manage their injectable medicines, the technology will be integrated into the association’s own support system.