27th Sep 2018 13:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - SalvaRx Group PLC on Thursday reported a widened interim loss on an impairment charge.
In the six months ended June, the drug development company focused on immunotherapy for cancer widened its pretax loss to GBP2.1 million from GBP1.4 million.
In the period, SalvaRx impaired an investment to zero resulting in a GBP815,000 exceptional write off.
The company invested a total of USD1.1 million in RIFT Biotherapeutics but it did not achieve any "development milestones" and ran out of funding - leading to SalvRx to impair the investment.
SalvRx's research & development costs in the half dropped to GBP557,000 from GBP570,000. The company's other operating costs decreased to GBP597,000 from GBP665,000.
Excluding the impairment, SalvaRx reduced its operating costs to GBP1.1 million from GBP1.3 million the year before.
The drug developer said it continues to make progress on advancing its two main products: 57%-owned subsidiary iOx Therapeutics Ltd and 8.5% equity invested Intensity Therapeutics Inc.
iOX Therapeutics was granted additional patents in the period that cover liposomal formulation and the company is planning "multiple" human clinical studies next year.
Intensity Therapeutics reported "positive safety data" in its advanced cancer patients trial, which is ongoing.
SalvaRx said: "Cancer remains a hot area of investment with record amounts of capital flowing into early stage companies, and being realized through public offerings. In addition, pharma companies are paying record amounts for new products.
"We hope that our exciting pipeline can offer cancer patients new options for the treatment of their disease. Thank you for your support as we continue to seek out creative ways to advance and grow the portfolio and capabilities of our team."
Shares in SalvaRx were down 4.3% Thursday at 67.70 pence each.
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