Futura: an even longer-term prospect

The future of Medisys' Futura looked to be in doubt again yesterday after the company conceded that its timetable for launch of the safety syringe had been put back again.

Shares in the company dropped more than 20 per cent to close at 15 pence on the news, with the decline made more dramatic by comments attributed to the chief executive of Medisys' marketing partner for Futura which suggested a lack of commitment to the project.

Keith Butler-Wheelhouse, the CEO of Smiths Group which has a co-marketing agreement with Medisys for the syringe, was quoted in the UK press as saying he had "almost given up" on the product at the firm's annual results meeting on Wednesday. The company swiftly said it had no intention of withdrawing from the contract, but this did not help buoy Medisys' shares.

In July, Medisys said that the syringe had passed its final safety tests​ and was scheduled for a launch in the next two months. It is designed to prevent needlestick injuries, which can place healthcare workers and others at risk of blood-borne infections such as HIV and hepatitis B.

The successful completion of the Quality Test Protocol should have sparked a payment from Smiths to Medisys of $1.95 million (€1.7m) under the two firms' co-marketing agreement, but this has not yet been received, said Medisys in a statement.

Successful completion of the QTP also required the companies to start launch activities for the product.

"Smiths commenced distribution of the product to selected clinical sites with a view to obtaining user feedback on the product from a third party clinical studies team prior to full market launch,"​ said Medisys.

However, the company's statement went on to say that initial clinical data discussed by the two companies at a meeting on 29 July was inconsistent with some of the results of the QTP, so they agreed that Medisys should undertake further analyses, due to complete at the end of October.