1996 Revenues Rise 75% At Genset

French biotechnology firm Genset achieved revenues in 1996 of 48.6million French francs ($9.4 million), up 75%. R&D revenues, 33% of the total, were 16.1 million francs. The rise was attributed to higher R&D revenues due to the initiation of major genomics programs with collaborative partners, Synthelabo and Johnson & Johnson, and the completion of the first Synthelabo milestone for prostate cancer. Net sales grew 18.7% to 32.4 million francs.

The firm reported a net loss of 65 million francs, or 9.65 francs per share, compared with 35 million francs, or 7.96 francs per share in 1995. R&D expenditure was just over 88 million francs, up 170%. This rise resulted from costs associated with the significant expansion of gene discovery programs, principally the costs of the high-throughput sequencing facility.

The firm expects R&D expenditure to continue to rise as additional personnel are taken on, research facilities are expanded and additional gene discovery programs are initiated.