16th Jun 2020 12:07
(Alliance News) - Midatech Pharma PLC on Tuesday reported a narrowed annual loss due to reduced administrative and research and development costs.
Shares in the Cardiff-headquartered company were down 5.3% at 18.95 pence in London on Tuesday.
The drug delivery technology company posted a GBP10.9 million pretax loss for 2019, narrowed from a GBP12.4 million loss the year before.
This predominantly results from a 17% drop in research and development costs to GBP7.8 million from GBP9.4 million as well as a 14% reduction in administrative costs to GBP3.8 million from GBP4.4 million.
Revenue more than doubled to GBP312,000 from GBP149,000.
Last week the company said it would be taking all "available action" after receiving notice from a research partner seeking to terminate a licence agreement.
Midatech said it received a letter from Secura Bio Inc on Monday last week which purported to terminate an agreement with the companies related to the licence of "certain patents" of panobinostat.
Panobinostat is the active ingredient in Midatech's MTX110 cancer treatment development programme.
In the letter, Secura said that Midatech had proposed liquidating and it has discontinued research and development, allegations Midatech refutes.
In its financial report, Midatech said it was "reviewing with its outside counsel remedies it may have if Secura Bio does not withdraw the notice and otherwise cease to interfere with its ongoing business and strategic review process."
At the end of March 2020, Midatech announced the termination of in house development of its MTD201 asset, closing down manufacturing facilities for MTD201 in Bilbao. This was a response both to "prevailing conditions in the capital markets" as well as its "inability to raise additional capital".
MTD201 was previously being developed by Midatech as a treatment for acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumours. Acromelagy is hormone disorder which can cause bones in the hands, feet, and face to get bigger. Neuroendocrine tumours affect the cells responsible for releasing hormones.
Chief Executive & Chief Financial Officer Stephen Stamp said: "This has been an extremely difficult period for Midatech with the termination of in-house development of our lead programme, closure of our Bilbao operations and the loss of 47 jobs, over two-thirds of our employees. I should like to recognise the professionalism of the team in making these difficult decisions and the grace with which they have been accepted. Our focus now is to evaluate all available options for extracting maximum value from Midatech's platform technologies."
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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