LONDON (Alliance News) - 4D Pharma PLC Tuesday reported a swing to a pretax loss for the first half of 2015 as a result of an exceptional gain in the previous period, as it continued to work towards bringing its pipeline of biotherapeutics towards commercialisation.
For the half year to end-June the company reported a pretax loss of GBP4.3 million, swung from a pretax profit of GBP462,000 a year before, partly due to higher operating expenses. It reported no revenue in the half year, and in the previous period had reported revenue of GBP117,000, and a GBP1.4 million gain from a fair value measurement related to an acquisition.
In March the company acquired the remaining minority interests in 4D Pharma Research Ltd, formerly GT Biologics Ltd, to increase its stake to 100%.
4D said it has two programmes entering clinical trials, with a further 11 research and development programmes underway in a number of diseases. Alongside this it has been developing its drug discovery platform MicroRx.
In February it raised GBP34.3 million through a share placing.
"The period has seen significant progress towards bringing a new class of therapeutics to market, with the development of the MicroRx discovery platform which has successfully identified therapeutically relevant bacteria in important new disease areas," said Chairman Dave Norwood in a statement.
"The period has also seen the second successful institutional placing within the company's first year post IPO; demonstrating shareholder support for our vision for 4D. With the company's first programme now having entered into patient trials, and further success for MicroRx, we believe this to be a hugely exciting period for the company," Norwood added.
Shares in 4D Pharma were up 4.1% at 825.00 pence Tuesday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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