Marple, Cheshire-based Proteus International Plc, the computer-aided drug design company that floated on the Unlisted Securities Market last May, has turned in pre-tax losses of UKP520,000 for the five-month period from May 14 to September 30, up from UKP226,000 losses last time. Proteus has been channeling its energy into the design of proprietary products – the company reckons the world market for these is worth UKP2,500 per year which has meant that no trading revenue was projected nor any significant revenue received during the period. This considered, says the board, the loss for the period is less than expected, and the group is in a strong financial position with UKP107,000 net interest received. Proteus, which used to develop its software on a Norsk Data ND5000 Supermini, decided in October that this machine wasn’t powerful enough and replaced it with a Convex 220 supercomputer. And, just as Proteus and Norsk Data intended to enter into a marketing agreement, in 1989, to bundle Proteus software with the ND5000 – an arrangement which never got off the ground – a similar deal has now been signed with Convex, to market the 220 supercomputer with its products. But Proteus has become concerned by the potential loss of intellectual property rights to products designed by customers using Prometheus software and will now be leasing its products rather than selling them. And, design consultancy is provided now only on the terms that Proteus retains the intellectual property rights for all resultant products. The company’s stongest business is in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology market, with interest in Prometheus design consultancy being shown by companies in the US, Europe and Japan. Among Proteus’ current design projects are the synthetic bases for treatment of herpes, Rubella, BSE (mad cow disease), HIV (AIDS) and cancer. In the US, a wholly owned marketing subsidiary has been established in Boston, Massachusetts, with a similar set-up planned for the West Coast. Discussions are also underway for representation in Japan by Daiichi Pure Chemicals Co. Chairman Mr Gilmour hopes to be reporting sales figures by the end of the year.
