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LONDON (Alliance News) - Respiratory drug development company Synairgen PLC on Wednesday said it remains focused on its ongoing trial partnership with AstraZeneca PLC as it swung to a pretax loss in the first half after revenue it generated last year did not repeat.
The company said its focus is currently on a the phase 2a study being conducted by AstraZeneca, the London-listed pharmaceutical giant, on AZD9412, an inhaled interferon beta drug developed by Synairgen.
The group only made revenue of GBP25,000 in the recent half, in line with its expectations and sharply down from the GBP4.3 million it made last year, which was entirely attributable to the upfront payment the company received from AstraZeneca. As a result of that revenue disappearing, its first half pretax loss was GBP1.0 million, compared to a GBP1.9 million profit a year earlier.
"During the period, Synairgen has been focused on working with AstraZeneca to support the start of the Phase IIa trial in AZD9412, which has now commenced and we look forward to updating you with the results," said Chief Executive Richard Marsden.
Shares in Synairgen were down 6.2% to 31.65 pence on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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