Pharmacy Daily | Corum to rebrand as PharmX Limited

LISTED pharmacy technology specialist Corum Health has confirmed that once the sale of its software business to Canada's Jonas Group is completed (PD 24 Jul), the company plans to change its name to PharmX Technologies Limited, reflecting the success of and focus on the fast-growing PharmXchange business.

Shareholders will vote on the sale transaction and name change in an upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for 20 Sep.

"The new name better reflects the nature of the new business as a technology solutions provider to the pharmacy industry and its suppliers," the company said.

Corum yesterday released its financial results for the year to 30 Jun, confirming that the binding agreement with Jonas will see payment of $4.75 million at completion and a further $1.5 million 12 months later, along with the potential for earn-out targets based on achieving net recurring revenue targets.

Since launching in Jun 2022 as a B2B marketplace for the pharmacy industry, PharmXchange has achieved "rapid market penetration well ahead of forecast", according to the Corum results announcement, with almost 60 suppliers representing 175 brands and over 7,500 products now transacting via the platform.

"The supplier portfolio includes some of the biggest companies in the industry, including Haleon, Reckitt Benckiser, Blackmores, Revlon and Arrotex," Corum said, adding that the pipeline of new suppliers looking to gain access to PharmXchange is also very strong.

More than 1,800 pharmacies have signed up to the platform so far, which was the key contributor to total Corum revenue (excluding the pharmacy software business) of $6.1 million for the last 12 months.

Corum recorded a net pre-tax loss of $719,000 for the year, which was impacted by one-off legal costs relating to the ongoing PharmX court case, which saw $8.1 million received by the company as a result of the judgement against Fred IT.

Corum noted that after becoming 100% owner of the PharmX business in Sep 2020 it had "subsequently reversed the chronic underinvestment in the gateway under previous ownership", involving enhanced commercial and technical capability and the transition of PharmX to the cloud.

Corum ended the year with a strong cash balance but noted that because the judgement in the Fred IT case is subject to appeal it was not recognising any revenue in relation to the proceeds.

Executive Chairman, Nick England, said Corum Group had had a "busy and exciting year with the sale of the pharmacy software business to Jonas, the settlement of the long-running legal case and the launch of PharmXchange".

"The sale of the pharmacy software business has already created new opportunities for PharmX as an independent and market-agnostic technology provider," England added.