Hybridan Researcher and Corporate Broker Derren Nathan caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss Optibiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI)
Q1: Now Derren, I wanted to talk about Optibiotix Health. They’ve just announced their half-yearly report, the company’s made great progress since its IPO and the shares have performed in line with this, what are the main drivers, what will they be going forward?
A1: Ok well you use the company’s done very well on its product development side and if you look at what they’ve done with the cholesterol products we can maybe see that as a template going forward for some of the other divisions. The cholesterol product, they’ve improved it in concept, they’ve done a human study and they’ve got big companies circling it and looking to partner with it, there’s optionality on it, it could be a food supplement, it could treat hypertension and it could be complementary with pharmaceuticals products as well. So if we see this as a template then they’ve got the option to do that with the skin product, diabetes and lots of other things so the skin product could be a beauty treatment, it could also be used to potentially treat hospital acquired infections, there’s lots going on and so production development is one thing, commercialisation is the other. They’ve got commercial agreements on SweetBiotix which is a really exciting product, a little bit less advanced but possible the biggest opportunity for them so lots going on and just to top it off they’ve got their SlimBiome product incorporated in some brands and already on the shelves so exciting times indeed.
Q2: So lots of options there and lots of products that they can get into. Why is the Human Microbiome gaining such high attention?
A2: I think people as an area of science, I think it appeals to people because it’s not heavy chemicals, it’s bio-therapeutic, it come from us, it’s the bacteria that we host and it’s a very open area of science because we’re only just beginning to understand its huge potential and the US government has pledged a half a billion dollar microbiome initiative. There’s all sorts of areas from autism through to the metabolic disorders that Optibiotix Health is looking at and I think the attention is going to grow and grow.
Q3: How does Optibiotix Health PLC stack up in light of the current regulatory environment?
A3: By regulation we can split it into many different categories, if we look at how they’re getting their products to market they’re primarily doing it through the food ingredient way which, as we’ve seen with the GoFigure bars, it’s allowed them to get products onto the shelves very quickly without any major regulatory hurdles. We can also look at the government’s proposals to tackle childhood obesity, these have been watered down somewhat to the horror of many pundits but in some ways the same proposals which are to reduce sugar by a fifth on certain products such as soft drinks really plays into Optibiotix’s hands. They are developing sweets, calorie-free sugars which really could be the answer to many of the industry’s problems and slightly less relevant but still in the same field is their weight management formulation which is already getting first sales.
