(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) ( NASDAQ:AKER) is ending the year on a high note with every indication that the momentum will carry into 2015.
Unveiling three deals little over a week apart the company is delivering the planned roll-out strategy for its heparin allergy test the flagship product in the portfolio.
“Our plan was to first to grow the internal sales and marketing and come up with new innovative strategies and go out and implement” said chairman Ray Akers.
“You need one or two things to break a log jam and then all hell breaks loose. That’s what is happening now.”
On Thursday the group revealed it bagged two European distribution deals for its lead product PIFA Heparin Rapid Assay.
Its deal with Cryopep covers France Belgium the Netherlands and Luxembourg while an agreement with DialLine covers Switzerland and Lichtenstein.
Akers is confident of finding partners in other European territories including the UK and Germany.
However the most important piece of news was the receipt last week of a US$1mln order for the heparin test from NovoTek the Beijing‐based pharmaceutical and medical device business.
“The Chinese market is as big as the US and there isn’t product approved there so that is a market that’s going to rocket” said chairman Akers.
“We automatically become the gold standard. In Europe there are established laboratory methods and a much more entrenched medical system than there is in China so the uptake in Europe won’t be as fast – but it will be steady.”
Akers’s product is the only US FDA-cleared rapid manual assay that is able to quickly determine if a patient being treated with the blood thinner heparin may be developing a drug allergy.
This clinical syndrome known as heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia or HIT for short reverses the heparin’s intended effect and turns it into a clotting agent.
Patients suffering HIT are at risk of developing limb and life-threatening complications so fast and effective diagnosis of the problem is critical.
It will be sold as a value proposition in established markets such as Europe where it offers quicker diagnosis and crucially is cheaper than the established lab tests.
Meanwhile in emerging markets such as China and India where the firm also has a distribution deal it is aiming to become the test of choice.
“Akers's rapid diagnostic tests surpass most other current products with their portability speed ease of use low cost and accuracy” said Keith Redpath of the broker finnCap.
“We believe the benefits of these products are therefore well suited to the diagnostic demands of third world countries lacking basic health infrastructure.”
Akers has a suite of other new products based on six proprietary platform technologies. They range from a rapid lung cancer detector through to a device that measures HDL LDL and total cholesterol levels instantly so the heparin test is just the start.
Given the recent round of good news the shares have been subdued treading water at around 220p a share. The growth company broker finnCap reckons the stock is worth 310p and is predicting Akers will break even 2016.
That important landmark may even be achieved next year if Akers continues to progress at its current pace.
“The message is pretty simple: we are confident we are on track. The strategy we laid out a year ago is working. We are very confident we are building long-term value” the chairman said.
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