It has been a difficult year for the shareholders of Immunoprecise Antibodies Ltd.

The Victoria-based biotech company’s share price is down 59% so far this year, closing at $7.01 on the Canadian Venture Exchange on December 10.

On December 13, Immunoprecise Antibodies announced a net loss of $5 million on revenue of $4.7 million in the three months ending October 31. This compared to a net loss of $463,584 in the same quarter of 2020.

The company’s market value is $135.82 million and it held $38.4 million in cash as of October 31. She works with partners to customize the development of antibodies against diseases, including COVID-19.

In its financial statements, Immunoprecise Antibodies said it expects its PolyTope® cocktail to “retain activity against Omicron (B.1.1.529),” similar to what has been “observed in in vitro models for other previously identified variants of concern”.

This work is performed through its wholly owned subsidiary, Talem Therapeutics. Immunoprecise Antibodies increased its investment in Talem to $2.8 million in the last quarter, from $1.1 million in the same period of 2020.

“Our primary focus continues to advance our proprietary potential therapies in Talem Therapeutics, close an expanded pipeline of new CRO activities, while advancing our PolyTope® Cocktail development program, which has taken on an even more urgent role in light of the unmet need and total addressable market of COVID-19, which we believe we can fill,” CEO Jennifer Bath said in the statement.

Bath has a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and taught the subject for 15 years at a college in Minnesota.

The company’s financial statements indicate that it has received comments from the US Food and Drug Administration on a new drug in pre-investigation.

Immunoprecise Antibodies has also launched the latest experimental studies enabling new drugs and “has received initial data relating to the safety and toxicity profile of its PolyTope® cocktail”.

On December 10, the BC government reported that there had been 10 cases of the highly contagious variant of Omicron in three different health authorities.

Two days later, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson predicted a ‘tidal wave’ of COVID-19 cases following the arrival of the Omicron variant in the UK

On December 13, the UK recorded its first death from this variant, according to BBC News.