PARIS - Chemunex S.A., the Paris-based company specialized in the development of microbiological testing products, has launched a test for the specific detection of the Escherichia coli bacterium in drinking water. Designed for use in conjunction with the Chemunex ChemScanRDI analyzer, the new test can detect the presence of a single E. coli bacterium in 100 ml of water within three hours, which, according to the company, makes it the fastest and most sensitive E. coli test on the market.

When used to screen drinking water, the ChemScanRDI analyzer detects the presence of certain pathogens and waterborne particles and produces the results within a few hours. Two other tests for the detection of Cryptosporidium and Giardia, which are both pathogenic parasites often involved in the contamination of drinking water, were introduced earlier this year. Now this latest test is on the market, Chemunex says it has completed development of the ChemScanRDI as a single platform for the drinking water market. The system has already been installed in laboratories in the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and North America.

The water industry accounts for no more than 6 percent to 7 percent of Chemunex's sales at present, since the main industries to which it supplies its microbial analyzers are pharmaceuticals (representing well over half its sales), cosmetics, and food and beverages. It has just released its results for its last financial year, which show that its sales increased by 25 percent to FFr38.9 million ($6.3 million) in the 12 months to June 30 last from FFr31.2 million in 1997-98, although in the fourth quarter in particular revenues were no more than 18 percent up at FFr11.8 million. The company derived 72 percent of its revenues from European Union countries in 1998-99, and 24.4 percent from the U.S.

Research and development spending rose by 6.8 percent to FFr29.7 million ($4.8 million) in 1998-99, while the company's total cash burn amounted to FFr54 million ($8.8 million). Describing that as "exceptionally high," the company said it was partly due to the repayment of long-term borrowings of FFr7.9 million and other non-recurrent industrial investments. On the plus side, though, its gross margin reached 50.4 percent in the final quarter and averaged 48.3 percent for the full year, as against 42 percent in 1997-98. The bottom line was a net loss of FFr33.5 million ($5.4 million) in 1998-99, 28.3 per cent higher than the previous year's FFr26 million. As at June 30, 1999, the company had cash and deposits of FFr66.3 million ($10.8 million), down from FFr120.3 million the year before.

One of the highlights of the past year for Chemunex was the launch in November 1998 of its D-Count system for non-filterable products. The company reports that this system has been successfully evaluated in several cosmetics and healthcare companies, and food applications are due to be launched at the end of this year. Altogether, there are 120 Chemunex microbial analyzers installed around the world, including eight D-Count units, and users include the world's 10 largest pharmaceutical companies.

Nevertheless, the company points out that its development is being hampered by "unexpected delays in regulatory submissions," which had a "significant impact on sales revenues for both instruments and reagents" in 1998-99. But its efforts to obtain regulatory approval for the ChemScanRDI analyzer as a process control tool in the pharmaceutical industry have made some progress over the past year, with the publication of a review paper in the Journal of the United States Pharmacopoeia, the completion of required validation documentation to support regulatory submissions, and the initiation of a number of validation studies in European and North American companies. Some of these studies are due to be completed very shortly, and the company expects the first regulatory submissions for the ChemScanRDI to be filed within the next few months.

Chemunex has been listed on Easdaq since March 1997 and on the Nouveau Marchi in Paris since June 1998, and earlier this year moved to new headquarters in the Paris suburb of Ivry.