LONDON (Alliance News) - e-Therapeutics PLC Wednesday said its pretax loss widened in the recent half year as it spent more on research and development.
The drug discovery and development company, based in Oxford and Newcastle, said its pretax loss widened to GBP2.8 million for the six months to July 31, compared with GBP2.2 million for the corresponding period last year.
The company spent GBP2.5 million on R&D, a significant increase on last half year's GBP1.6 million.
However, the company used R&D tax credits to limit its net loss to GBP2.3 million, compared with last half year's GBP1.8 million.
e-Therapeutics, which raised GBP38.9 million in a March equity placing on AIM, gave a number of updates on the products it is developing, with "no serious adverse events" attributed to its lead cancer drug, ETS2101.
The company also said it has begun the development of an oral formulation of ETS2101.
"Following our successful fundraising, we are investing in further development of our network pharmacology platform, in applying this technology to add to our drug portfolio and in advancing our leading compounds, notably the cancer drug ETS2101, through clinical trials. We are confident this strategy will lead to value-realising partnering deals," Malcolm Young, chief executive, said in a statement.
The drug company said it expects to start the next stage of a trial of its ETS6103 drug, which could be used to treat major depressive disorder.
The next stage of the drug's trial has faced delays, so that company said it now expects results in the first half of 2015 as opposed to the second half of 2014.
e-Therapeutics shares were Wednesday quoted at 24.50 pence, down 7.00 pence, or 22%
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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