The firm, a provider of laboratory and contract research services, reported an operating loss of $238,047 for the three months ended March 31, compared with income of $206,691 for the comparable quarter in fiscal 2009. Revenue for Q3 was also down on the previous year, falling some 16 per cent to $2.2m.

CEO Ron Helm attributed the revenue and income declines to “the continuing challenge of operating in a chaotic drug development environment."

And, while this suggestion fits with the general slow down in the early-stage discovery sector, for PBI it must be a particular disappointment given that it had predicted improving demand in the second half of fiscal 2010.

Helm touched on this point when setting out a downbeat forecast for PBI's performance in the remainder of its financial year.

“Earlier, we anticipated a substantial improvement in fourth quarter revenues from the previous three quarters of fiscal 2010. That would have kept annual revenues for fiscal 2010 not materially below fiscal 2009 revenues.

“While we should still see improvement in fourth quarter revenues, we expect fiscal 2010 to be below last year's record revenue.”

However, for 2011 PBI was more upbeat, predicting that continuing Big Pharma efforts to cut the cost of drug and device development will begin increasing industry demand for biomarker services.

This forecast, Helm explained, is based on the idea that: “our expected level of signed contracts for revenues to be realized in the next fiscal year will be greater than during any previous year in the Company's history."