Business

Company that controls Irish genomic data incurs $23m loss as revenue drops again

Latest accounts for Genuity Science Ireland show it had accumulated losses of $121m at the end of 2022

The Irish Strategic Investment Fund has invested more than €70 million into Genuity Science Ireland as it aimed to collect DNA from 400,000 Irish people for medical research purposes. Photograph: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg

Barry J Whyte
Wed Apr 10 2024 - 05:45

Genuity Science Ireland, a company that controls an enormous database of Irish genomic data, incurred losses of $22.7 million (€20.9 million) in 2022 as its revenue dropped again, new accounts show.

Formerly known as Genomic Medicine Ireland, Genuity made $7.1 million from selling access to its database, down from $8 million in 2021, and $17 million in 2020. Having made a loss for the year of $22.7 million, the company now has accumulated losses of $121.4 million.

The directors note in the accounts that the company has had to conduct a major restructuring, in which it “reduced the breadth of its commercial offering and significantly decreased the cost of its operating model”.

It cut its administrative costs from $22.2 million to $13.6 million, a large chunk of which appears to have come from cutting its staff from 75 to 47 at the end of 2022, which reduced its wage bill from $12.6 million to $6 million.

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It noted that, following the restructuring, it “anticipates some new customers/business in 2024″.

However, it noted that “there is no certainty that sufficient revenue can be earned in from the commercial offerings to cover the costs involved in running the business”, leading to a material uncertainty over its ability to continue as a going concern.

Genomics Medicine Ireland, was founded in Ireland in 2015 by Daniel Crowley, Paul Thurk, Sean Ennis and Maurice Treacy, before being sold in 2018 to Chinese-owned WuXi NextCode. In 2021, WuXi in turn sold the company to Hibercell, a US-based biotechnology firm focused on development of cancer treatments.

HiberCell did not respond to a request for comment.

At various points, the taxpayer, through the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, has invested more than €70 million into the company as it aimed to collect DNA from 400,000 Irish people for medical research purposes.

The latest accounts show that Genuity is reliant on HiberCell for short-term loans to keep operating.

The accounts state that, in HiberCell’s most recent financial statements, for the same period, “a substantial doubt exists as to its ability to continue as a going concern due to uncertainty over availability of additional funding”.

HiberCell has since secured additional funding from a new round of investment from what it described as “third-party investors”.

The parent company is also “seeking to raise additional funding during calendar year 2024 in order to continue its ongoing clinical trials and to continue to provide short-term loans” to Genuity.

This will, the accounts state, “depend on a number of factors including public and private equity markets, the progress of its clinical trials, and many other factors; and receipt of this additional funding is not guaranteed”.

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