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LONDON (Alliance News) - N4 Pharma PLC on Tuesday reported a narrowed loss for 2018 on lower costs and said it is exploring new opportunities while continuing work on core Nuvec drug delivery system.
Shares in the company were down 6.3% at 3.70 pence in late morning trade.
N4 Pharma has experienced some issues recently with Nuvec. In vivo testing of Nuvec - that is, testing that takes place in a living organism - could not replicate the results of in vitro testing or testing that takes place outside of something living.
According to the company, the in vivo studies used different dosages, and may have prepared and handled Nuvec differently. For this reason, N4 Pharma has decided to acquire more data.
N4 Pharma Chief Executive Nigel Theobald said: "We announced in April that we had seen some inconsistent in vivo results compared to the initial in vivo studies and continued in vitro success and have put in place a plan of action to rectify this, so we can then continue with the efficacy work which we raised the funds for. The additional work we are doing at the University of Queensland will not have a material financial cost to the company and is not expected to impact on our ability to undertake this required efficacy work with the funds recently raised. Whilst this has caused a delay to the efficacy work starting, we believe that the extra data from the University of Queensland will maximise the chances of successful future or repeat studies. These delays often occur in life sciences and there is no substitute for taking the time to ensure we are in the best position with the data available to us before progressing to the next phase."
The company is also looking to diversify and shift focus away from developing just one asset.
"Nuvec is now our core asset and, whilst this remains an exciting opportunity, the board recognises it is prudent to investigate other potential assets. To this end the board will be proactively exploring opportunities in parallel to the work being undertaken on Nuvec," said Theobald.
Alongside these new plans, N4 Pharma also announced its annual results for 2018, including the narrowing of its pretax loss to GBP1.4 million from GBP1.9 million. This narrowing was largely caused by a deemed cost of acquisition totalling GBP1.0 million in 2017 which did not repeat in 2018.
The company's government grant income was GBP72,832 for the year, less than the GBP109,913 of grant income received the year before.
Research and development costs more than doubled to GBP846,176 from GBP409,808 while general and administration costs also doubled, hitting GBP643,745 from GBP316,632. The company did not, however, report any reorganisation costs in 2018, a change from the GBP281,298 of reorganisation costs incurred in 2017.