Rising R&D costs hurt Provexis

16th Dec 2010 07:49

Medical food and dietary supplement developer Provexis said pre-tax losses almost doubled as it increased research and development spending.Investment in R&D increased to £612,171 in the period, up from £289,125 in the same period last year, as the group broadens its product pipeline. The group which produces Fruitflow, a patented tomato extract which aims to improve heart health, said loss before taxation widened to £1.1m from a loss of £666,349 the year before. Revenue fell to £7.2m from £10.3m previously. Provexis said it believes, "that the economic conditions and the uncertainty caused in our sector by the new European Commission health claims legislation has continued to contribute to brand owners remaining cautious towards innovation strategies."CEO Stephen Moon added, "Significant management resource is being given to identifying acquisitions which will further increase the value of the pipeline. Our focus for the second half of the year is on building and developing our pipeline."