Losses at HealthBeacon almost doubled last year, results show

Medical tech group, which floated on Euronext Dublin last December, recorded a €13.2m loss from operating activities

Jim Joyce, chief executive and co-founder of HealthBeacon: 'We have signed two big speciality pharmacy clients including Accredo,' he said. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Jim Joyce, chief executive and co-founder of HealthBeacon: 'We have signed two big speciality pharmacy clients including Accredo,' he said. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Losses at Dublin-based medical technology company HealthBeacon almost doubled last year, the group’s full-year results show.

The company, which was founded in 2013 and is led by chief executive and co-founder Jim Joyce, published results for the year ended December 31st, 2022 on Friday.

The group, which floated on Euronext Dublin last December, recorded a loss from operating activities of €13.2 million, which was up from a loss of €7.3 million the year before.

The results show it achieved revenue growth of 2 per cent to €2.25 million from €2.21 million. That comprised €1.29 million from patient support programmes and €960,000 from direct-to-consumer. Its Patient Safety Hub was launched in 2022, delivering revenues of €350,000.

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The company’s average headcount increased to 67 employees from 47 the year before. Most of the increased headcount was in the US with the build-out and scaling of the company’s operations in Orlando across two locations.

The company had a net cash position of €12.16 million at the end of the year, which was down from €26.6 million 12 months earlier.

The reduction in cash was attributed to opex as part of establishing the Orlando base, investment in new product development, and the commencement of delivery of a 35,000 order of its Smart Sharps Bin in October.

The results show the company continued the expansion of its client base to 30 from 23 in 2022 and 18 in 2021.

In terms of outlook, the group said supply chain cost increases experienced in 2022 have subsided, with gross margin expected to improve through 2023.

HealthBeacon expects to hit annual revenues of €25m next yearOpens in new window ]

With the IPO proceeds and its commercial relationships, the company said it has sufficient funding in place.

“The evolution of speciality pharmacy as the influential route to market for injectable medicines has presented a clearly realisable opportunity for HealthBeacon in the US,” said Mr Joyce.

“We have signed two big speciality pharmacy clients including Accredo, with a further three currently at contracting stage.

“We will be launching the ICMS [Injection Care Management System] with our initial client in the second quarter and will follow with subsequent client roll-outs through to the first quarter of 2024,” he said.

“We have confronted several challenges in building out our delivery infrastructure in the US. However, I’m pleased to report that we will soon be in a position to deploy our highly effective medical adherence tool at scale to exploit the speciality pharmacy opportunity we have worked so hard to engineer.”

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter