Earnings call transcript: Oncoinvent’s Q2 2025 sees sales surge, cost-cutting measures

Oncoinvent ASA, a biotech company with a market capitalization of $14 million, reported a significant increase in sales revenue for Q2 2025, alongside a reduction in operating expenses. The company is strategically focusing on its primary drug candidate, Radsferrin, and has outlined plans for future growth and development. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company’s stock price rose by 5.71% after the earnings call, though it remains significantly below its 52-week high of $0.39.

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Key Takeaways

• Oncoinvent’s sales revenue jumped to NOK 11.7 million from NOK 67,000 the previous year.
• Operating expenses decreased by 28%, reflecting cost-cutting measures.
• The company is advancing clinical trials for its drug candidate, Radsferrin.
• Oncoinvent’s stock price increased by 5.71% following the earnings call.

Company Performance

Oncoinvent ASA demonstrated strong performance in Q2 2025, with sales revenue reaching NOK 11.7 million, a significant increase from NOK 67,000 in the same quarter the previous year. InvestingPro data shows impressive revenue growth of 40% over the last twelve months. The company also reported a reduction in operating expenses, which fell to NOK 56.2 million from NOK 78.1 million, highlighting its commitment to financial discipline. Despite these improvements, InvestingPro analysis indicates the company is quickly burning through cash, though it maintains a healthy current ratio of 2.49, suggesting strong short-term liquidity.

Financial Highlights

• Sales revenue: NOK 11.7 million, up from NOK 67,000 year-over-year.
• Operating expenses: NOK 56.2 million, down 28% from NOK 78.1 million.
• EBITDA: Minus NOK 44.2 million.
• Cash available: NOK 77.4 million.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings call, Oncoinvent’s stock price rose by 5.71%, reflecting positive investor sentiment. The stock closed at NOK 1.48, nearing its 52-week high of NOK 4. This movement suggests confidence in the company’s strategic direction and financial management.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking forward, Oncoinvent plans to focus on the development of Radsferrin, with upcoming milestones including final ovarian cancer data in 2025 and interim Phase II data in late 2026. The company is also planning a merger with Bergen Bio and has secured NOK 130 million in financing to support its growth initiatives. Analysts maintain a Strong Buy consensus on the stock, with a target price suggesting significant upside potential.

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Executive Commentary

CEO Ostend Saug emphasized the company’s innovative approach, stating, "We have a clever, yet simple mechanism of action, which allows us to treat all cancers in the abdominal cavity." He also highlighted the potential impact on patient outcomes, noting, "Controlling the peritoneal disease may significantly improve the survival of colorectal cancer patients."

Risks and Challenges

• Recruitment for clinical trials remains a challenge, with only 14 out of 96 patients enrolled.
• The company faces potential competition in the cancer treatment market.
• Financial sustainability is crucial as the company continues to operate at a loss.
• Regulatory hurdles could impact the timeline for drug approvals.
• Economic conditions could affect funding and investment opportunities.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the status of clinical trial recruitment. The company expressed confidence in its ability to enroll patients, citing ongoing expansions in Spain, Italy, and other countries. Additionally, potential protocol modifications are being considered to facilitate recruitment efforts.

By focusing on innovation and strategic cost management, Oncoinvent is positioning itself for future success in the competitive cancer treatment market. While the company’s Financial Health Score of 2.26 (rated as "Fair" by InvestingPro) suggests room for improvement, its strong liquidity position and strategic initiatives could support future growth potential.

Full transcript - Oncoinvent ASA (ONCIN) Q2 2025:

Ostend Saug, CEO, Onconvent: Good morning to everyone watching live, and hello to those of you who watched this recording of Onconvent’s First Half Year Report 2025. Today is the August 27. My name is Ostend Saug. I’m the CEO of Onconvent. And with me today, I have Thore Kwam, the CFO.

During the session, you can ask questions. There’s a box in the lower right hand corner where you can ask your questions, and we will strive to answer them towards the end of the presentation. This is the disclaimer. The agenda today will go through highlights, clinical update, we’ll say a few words about the merger with Bergen Bio and of course the financials and upcoming milestones. So this is a half yearly update and we assume that most of you are somewhat familiar with our business, but for those of you who are new to the story and those of you who need a refresher, this slide will give you the essentials.

We are an oncology biotech company listed at Euronext Growth in Oslo. Our drug candidate is called Radsferrin, which is a radioactive alpha emitter that we use against cancer in the peritoneum or the abdominal cavity or in Norwegian. It has a clever, yet simple mechanism of action, which allows us to treat all cancers in the abdominal cavity, no matter its origin. So the cancer can start there, or it can come as a metastasis from somewhere else. Rasferin has already shown great results in early stages in two indications, which has led us to start a Phase II trial in patients with in the peritoneum resulting from ovarian cancer.

Now, this is an area with an enormous unmet need, there’s really nothing there for these patients, and there’s also limited competition, and Rasferin is one administration only, easy to use, and slots very well onto the standard of care which is being used today. In addition, when it comes to the team, already has a track record. We share founders with Algerta and ArtBio, and being located in Oslo, we have recycled many of the specialists, the managers and the board members from the Algeta days into senior roles at OncoInvent. The highlights in the period were many and important. Ovarian cancer is our key focus.

We have two trials ongoing in a Phase I trial and a Phase II trial. In the phase two trial, we confirmed a durable benefit in an interim eighteen months data readout, so that’s not final data, it’s an interim data readout. And late last year, we started the phase two trial with a safety leading cohort of six patients that read out earlier this year and allowed us to open the randomized part of the trial, meaning the part of the trial that has two arms. That trial is on track, but in order to secure the recruitment and maximize the recruitment of patients into that trial, we are in the process of adding on new trials new trial sites the trial. So today we have six hospitals recruiting patients, and we’re aiming to increase that maybe by the double.

Colorectal cancer read out positive final data from a Phase onetwoa trial that I’ll present to you in a minute. On the corporate side, importantly, we improved the financial discipline. We reduced operating expenses by 28% versus the same period last year without reducing the activity of the company. We also announced a merger with Bergen Bio, and we are very proud to have been chosen by Bergen Bio as their preferred merger partner. And this merger will create a combined new company with a solid shareholder base and Osloberg’s main listing, a promising clinical candidate, solid financials and cash runway beyond the first Phase two data in 2026.

Underpinned not only by Bergen Bio and the merger, but also by a fully guaranteed NOK 130,000,000 financing round that will take place in October and that Thore will tell you about a bit later in the presentation. Now, this is our clinical development plan with three trials. We have an early program in cancer that has spread to the peritoneum from two indications, ovarian and colorectal, and an ongoing Phase II trial in ovarian cancer. The green stars here, they indicate data readouts, and you can see that there have been several in the 2025. First, we’ll take a look at the colorectal cancer readout.

This trial is a Phase onetwo a and had its final data readout in June. The trial recruited a total of 47 patients in Uppsala and Oslo, of which thirty six received the recommended top dose. And these patients received Rasferin right after surgery, and it’s a big surgery that these patients get when they take out all cancer in the abdominal cavity. And what we measure here is the time to recurrence, so does the cancer return? And if yes, how long time does it take for it to return?

This is a single arm trial, which means that we compare with similar trials, where the best standard of care has been given to similar patients in similar settings, so called historical control. The patients were followed for eighteen months and the final data relate to the thirty six patients with the top dose at the end of the trial. And what we see here is that the patients who received Rasferron experienced a marked improvement compared to the expected outcome with standard of care. So we see a twenty eight percent versus approximately fifteen percent in historical control. This is great data, and it has been accepted by SOGI, which is the Peritoneal Surface Oncology Group International Conference in October, and we’re very proud to be presenting there.

This is a specialized, high caliber gathering recognized as the premier event in this field. It’s well attended and scientifically influential, so we’re really, really looking forward to that. But why is this data important for the patients? Well, patients with colorectal cancer tend to get metastases in several organs, predominantly in liver and lung in addition to the peritoneum. So as shown here, one third get peritoneal metastases only, while two thirds get a mixed collection of metastases.

And what’s important here, however, is that whereas we have good treatment options for distant metastases, like liver and lung metastases, there are only a few and really no good options other than surgery for the peritoneal metastases. So as soon as the colorectal cancer patient get peritoneal mets added to the mix, a life expectancy is cut in half, as you can see here, and the five year survival falls from fifty percent to under twenty percent. This means that controlling the peritoneal disease, the peritoneal part of the disease or the cancer, which is actually what rotsferrin does, may significantly improve the survival of colorectal cancer patients, and that’s why it’s important data. We also reported ovarian cancer interim data this year. This is a Phase I trial.

The trial recruited a total of 21 patients, of which 10 received the top recommended dose. And as with colorectal cancer, these patients received Radsferrin right after surgery, with the patient then free of cancer, and what we are measuring is the time to recurrence. Also single arm, comparing with best standard of care in historical controls. And again, what we see here is that the patients who received RADSFERIN experienced a marked improvement compared to expected outcome with standard of care. We see ten percent versus approximately forty percent in historical control.

So these two data sets together, of course, they are relatively small, but they support each other. They both point in the same direction, and the magnitude of improvement in the two indications here are very similar. So we feel that the indication of efficacy that we have produced by showing this data is stronger than merely the sum of the parts, and it supports the mechanism of action of Radsferrin. This is not final data, it’s eighteen months interim data and the final data will come later this year. Colorectal eighteen months and ovarian eighteen months are behind us.

Looking at the future, in addition to the ovarian twenty four months data that I just mentioned, the next big data point for us will be the first Phase II data in late twenty twenty six, namely nine months interim data, on patients that are available for analysis at that time. Needless to say, that will be a significant data point, for the company. It is the first time that we show randomized data. And importantly also, the funds that we’re raising now with Bergen Bio and the rights issue secures a cash runway beyond this data readout. Patient recruitment in this trial is on track.

As I mentioned, we have six hospitals, they are all actively recruiting patients. The rate of recruitment picked up in May and June, and now we have a total of 14 out of the 96 patients, including safety included into the trials. We believe that the rate will pick up during the fall by increasing the number of hospitals participating recruiting into the trial. And also, there might be some changes to the protocol to ease their recruitment. That is probably not coming early in the half year, but later towards Christmas, but that will also strengthen recruitment going forward.

Now a few words about the merger with Bergen Bio. The rationale for this transaction is not operational, but rather financial. Bergen Bio has a main board listing at the Oslo Burs and a large and solid shareholder base. All of this is very attractive to Onconvent, obviously. And the Bergen Bio board, they chose to merge with Onconven since we have a promising drug candidate in phase two, but we realized that that is not enough, and we will work hard to deserve the trust of these new shareholders going forward.

Moreover, the rationale for this trial was to raise more money on the heels of the transaction with Bergen Bio. So in total, together with fundraising, we raised SEK 175,000,000, which is a process we’re in the middle of right now. Thore will say a few words more words about that transaction in a few seconds. But it’s an all share transaction, there’s no money changing hands. The new combined company will fall to 25% ownership of the old Bergen Bio shareholders and 75% to the old OncoInvent shareholders.

Bergen Bio will actually be the surviving entity, meaning that going forward, we will merge into Bergen Bio, but it will change name to OncoInvent also. The transaction is supported by both boards and was actually approved already by both AGMs earlier in August. So there will be a financing subsequent to the merger in October, which is 100% underwritten already, so there’s no excitement around that in terms of the risk of it going through. So that is 100% guaranteed. To take you through the timelines of these transactions and also the finances, I give the word to CFO, Thurde Kvaer.

Thore Kwam, CFO, Onconvent: Thurde? Thank you. As we’ve been receiving some question about what is the timeline and some confusion about it, we decided to impose the preliminary timelines that we are working towards internally. Having said that, these are can be subject to changes. These are dates on or about, so there may be changes to those.

What we’re looking at now, what we expect to have the formal approval of the merger towards the September, with a subscription period of the transaction or the right issue in the mid October and a final closing of the right issue towards the October, November. So that’s kind of the broad picture. This is a right issue, which means that shareholders of Onco and Vent and Bergen Bio will receive tradable subscription rights, which will give them the possibility to participate on equal terms. We also been receiving some questions when it comes to pricing. What will the pricing be, of of the the issue?

And the the answer is we don’t know yet. That price will be set ten days, roughly ten days after the merger has been approved. So that is the broad outline of moving forward with this transaction. If you then move on to the financials. Looking at the financial statement, it’s an insignificant improvement from last year.

And I explain and go through the details a little bit here. If you look at the sales revenue, we report sales revenue of roughly NOK11.7 million, which is divided in NOK2.5 million in services. And then we have roughly NOK9.2 million in the release of the lab, compared to the previous year, where we only had NOK 67,000 in sales revenue. So it’s a significant improvement. We report operating expenses of NOK 56,200,000.0, which is down from NOK78.1 million last year, which gives us an EBITDA result of minus NOK44.2 million for the 2025.

This is a significant improvement and as the ones of you who have followed the company for a while, will see that this is also due to the strategic focus that was the decision of the strategic focus that was made 2024, where we decided to focus entirely on RADSTRIN, the development of RADSTRIN, and also downsized the company significantly with about one third of the staff. Now you see the results of that. At the end of this period, we had, we were 36 full time employees and we had 77,400,000.0 in cash available. If you look forward on the cash runway, considering the merger and the right issue that is now ongoing. These are funding that will provide us to be able to get to, interim readout for this ongoing phase two program.

This is a very important milestone for us, as it is the first randomized trial that we do, and the first randomized report that we will file. If you look at the outlook, you look going forward, we know that the clinical expenses, R and D expenses, increase slightly going forward. That is due to nature of how it is to manage clinical trials. But we have a very committed staff that with a strong focus on financial discipline. So we don’t anticipate that it will be any changes, material changes in the cash burn as we see it now.

And also, when it comes to further financing of the company, that is something that we continue working on both in terms of strategic options towards partners and investors. So that is an ongoing work that has picked up quite a bit and it receives quite a bit of attention from our side. And with that, I will leave it to to talk a little bit about the upcoming milestones before we move on to Q and A.

Ostend Saug, CEO, Onconvent: Very briefly, just repeating the upcoming milestones. Two important ones, one at the 2025 with the final data in ovarian cancer and then the first randomized data in the form of an interim Phase two data coming one year later in the 2026. So that concludes the presentation and we move on to the Q and A sessions. And those of you who have not asked questions, there’s a box in the lower right hand corner where you can post your questions.

Thore Kwam, CFO, Onconvent: And we can start with the first one. There’s one question come in here. How pleased are you with recruitment? Do you have control on recruitment? Do you see kind of the end of the tunnel for this?

Ostend Saug, CEO, Onconvent: We don’t think that there is a problem with recruitment. We have chosen a very select patient population, but we know that that patient population exists. And before the summer, we had steady recruitment into the trial. We know the patients are there. But we also know that the best way of securing maximum recruitment into the trial is to work with the sites, help them to identify the patients, and then also to increase the number of sites that are recruiting to the trial.

I mentioned we have six sites at the moment in Spain, Belgium, Norway, UK and The US. And during the summer, we have been able to secure approval for new sites in Spain and Italy, and we’re also looking at other countries to cast a wider net in order to recruit these patients. So we are confident that this is going to go well. There’s too many more questions. So that was short and sweet.

And thank you for attending, and talk to you at the next quarterly report. Thank

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