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LONDON (Alliance News) - Synairgen PLC said Tuesday it swung to a pretax profit in 2014, after it licensed its inhaled interferon beta for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to AstraZeneca PLC last June.
The company posted a pretax profit of GBP1.1 million in 2014, compared with a pretax loss of GBP2.3 million in 2013, as is posted revenue of GBP4.3 million compared with no revenue in the earlier year. This more than covered an increase in operating costs as a result of higher research and development spending.
Revenue came from a GBP4.3 million upfront payment from AstraZeneca, and a GBP40,000 fee for service work for AstraZeneca.
Under the licence agreement Synairgen will receive potential further milestones of up to USD225 million from AstaZeneca, along with tiered royalties on sales. AstraZeneca has taken up all future development activities and costs for the programme.
AstraZeneca is due to begin an international phase II trial of the compound during 2015, with results expected in the early part of 2017.
Outside of this deal, the company has screened around 30 new assets over the last year, and after due diligence several of these have been identified as potential opportunities for licensing.
"A number of the shortlisted programmes are at a stage where initial clinical trials could be commenced in 2016. They are all of a potential market size and utility to be attractive to large pharmaceutical companies - fitting with Synairgen's partnering model," Synairgen said in a statement.
Shares in Synairgen are trading up 4.6% at 28.75 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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