LONDON (Alliance News) - Drug development company Verona Pharma PLC posted a significantly wider pretax loss for the first half of 2015 on Tuesday, hit by a ramp up in research and development spending as the group focuses on developing its pipeline.
Verona said its pretax loss for the half-year to the end of June was GBP4.4 million, widened from the GBP1.4 million loss it made a year earlier due to its research and development spending rising to GBP3.5 million, from GBP865,646 a year earlier. Verona does not make any revenue.
The company said it has continued to make progress in the first half on RPL554, its lead respiratory drug candidate, and said early results from studies conducted on the product have been encouraging.
Verona also kicked off a trial of the drug with asthma patients in the half and said it intends to carry out further studies on its cystic fibrosis pipeline next year.
Shares in Verona were down 14% in early trade to 4.299 pence, one of the worst performers in the AIM All-Share.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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