Optibiotix looking for first profit as group fights obesity

OPTIBIOTIX HEALTH, a weight management company which is working on products to tackle obesity, heart disease and diabetes, hopes to make its first profit by the end of next year.

The York-based firm is talking to global food producers about developing cereal bars and other products that speeds up metabolism, reduces the calorie uptake from food and makes people feel full.

In January it signed a deal with the company behind Slimfast, one of six deals it has signed with global multinational firms and smaller regional players.

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The deals come at a time when the Government is warning that obesity has become the new smoking in terms of health dangers. Data suggests that a quarter of British adults and a fifth of British children are now classified as obese.

OptiBiotix CEO Stephen O’Hara said: “If we carry on the way we are we will be in profit by the end of 2017/the beginning of 2018. That’s excluding the prospect of any large deal.”

The group has recently branched out into skincare having discovered that some of its innovative products can tighten skin so that it looks smoother and younger. It hopes to have a deal in place with a partner in the next 12 months to commercialise the product.

“I am delighted with the strong progress OptiBiotix has made in our first full year of trading on AIM. In a short space of time we have built operational ​capability​, progressed our development programmes, built on our IP portfolio, and signed multiple commercial agreements​,” said Mr O’Hara.​​

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OptiBiotix​​ ​made a loss after tax ​of £1.28m ​in the year to November 30, up from a loss of £800,000.

​The company was formed in 2012 to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome –​ ​the collective ​name for the microbes in the body – to prevent and manage human disease.

​Its aim is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases​. These include​ obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes.

OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression​.

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