LONDON - Oxford GlycoSciences (OGS) plc, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, announced results for the six months ended June 30 showing losses of £4.7 million, up from £3.8 million in the same period last year. Spending was up by £2.5 million, at £6.4 million, while turnover rose 42 percent, to £1.3 million from £900,000.

In April, the company floated on the London Stock Exchange, raising £33.2 million net. It had £37.8 million in cash as of June 30, compared with £5.5 million a year earlier.

OGS also said it has signed a five-year research collaboration worth a potential US$27.5 million with the seed company Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., of Des Moines, Iowa. Under the deal, Pioneer will apply OGS's proteomics technology to its plant gene database to discover genes important for improving agricultural seed products. OGS will then construct comprehensive databases of protein expression. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 23, 1998, p. 1.)

Pioneer will make an up-front payment of $12.5 million, fund the research and development over the five years of the collaboration, and make milestone payments. Shares in OGS rose by £0.20 to £1.38 when the deal was announced last week. The shares were priced at £2.80 at the flotation.

During the first half of 1998, OGS also announced a partnership with Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., to create gene-protein linked databases for sale to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; a research and development agreement with New York-based Pfizer Inc. to find disease-specific proteins in Alzheimer's disease; and a joint venture between Incyte and SmithKline Beecham plc, of London, called diaDexus, to find disease-specific proteins for use as clinical markers of disease progression in prostate cancer. Michael Kranda, CEO of OGS, said the deals will be “a major source of cash flow.“ The first sales of database products developed under the Incyte deal are expected during the first quarter of 1999. *