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LONDON (Alliance News) - NetScientific PLC Tuesday posted a widened pretax loss for the half-year to the end of June as it continues to progress technologies in its core subsidiaries.
The biotechnology and healthcare company posted a pretax loss of GBP2.6 million, widened from GBP1.0 million a year before, mostly as a result of higher research and development expenditure and administrative costs.
NetScientific said it had made significant progress at its two core subsidiaries, WandaHealth and Vortex Biosciences.
WandaHealth is cloud-based predictive big data technology for the remote monitoring of patients with chronic disease. The company completed trials of the technology in congestive heat failure, and regulatory approval is expected in the first quarter of 2015. It is in discussions with a US hospital group in preparation for a commercial roll out of the technology, it said.
Vortex is a high-speed blood test for a range of metastatic cancers that is expected to be launched in 2015.
It also evaluated new technologies for its pipeline, with opportunities being secured from research institutes and commercial alliances.
In March the company said it had entered into a strategic alliance with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel's fund Breakout Labs, which is based in San Francisco, to invest USD250,000 in medical technologies companies.
NetScientific said it will "continue to drive its investments to specific value inflection points," and expects to add further strategic alliances to access investment opportunities in its areas of interest.
Shares in NetScientific are untraded Tuesday; it last closed at 161.00 pence per share.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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